ATHENS – With protests reverberating around the world against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thousands of people came together in the heart of the Greek capital to join growing demonstrations.

The rally was held in Syntagma Square across from the Parliament and was organized on social media in an ultimate flash mob which invited “the friends of freedom and democracy in our country, of all nationalities, to demonstrate against the barbaric Russian invasion of Ukraine and in favor of the resistance of the Ukrainian people,” said Kathimerini.

The space, home to countless protests over the years against austerity and other issues, filled fast with people waving Ukrainian flags and holding placards and signs with slogans such as “Stop the war,” and “Stop Putin”

That was in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin who wants to seize Ukraine and, said critics, install a government favorable to him and even to try to rebuild the Soviet Union in places.

A video was shown with a message from Ukrainian lawmaker MP Kira Rudik who thanked every protestor, calling Ukraine “the shield of Europe” and adding that, “What hurts her the most is that there will now be a new generation of Ukrainians who will know what war is,” as of now.

In a smaller protest in  Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki, Ukrainians who live in the city gathered for a second day on Aristotelous square to ask for an end to war and Greek support for Ukraine, the paper said.