European demonstrators have gathered in a German city to demand the closure of the US military base at Ramstein.
Protesters from Germany, Austria and France gathered in the southwestern German city of Kaiserslautern on Saturday to demand the closure of the US Air Force’s Ramstein air base and to call on Western countries to seek non-violent solutions to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Protestor Mona Aranea said: “The permission that NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Alliance) states are giving to Ukraine to attack Russian targets in Russia with NATO weapons, with weapons sent from Germany, from the United States, from NATO states. This permission is an escalation of the war. It is not an escalation coming from Russia, but from the West, from the Western countries.
Protestor Pascal Luig said: “The big powers and the warring parties must now sit down at the negotiating table and resolve this conflict through diplomacy. We have many diplomats in Europe, but they don’t communicate with each other, which is a dangerous situation. [If this conflict is not resolved through negotiations,] it will continue to escalate and it will not stop.
Ramstein Air Base, built in 1951, is NATO’s largest airbase in Europe and also the force’s military base in Europe. Run by the United States, it plays a key role in relaying all drone signals to the United States.