ROME, October 12 (RIA Novosti) – A rally for peace in Ukraine that saw the participation of some 200 people took place on Saturday in the Italian city of Bari, Rocky Malatesta, the organizer of the rally, told journalists.
According to Malatesta, the main goal of the march for peace is to draw attention to the situation in Ukraine and to call for an immediate cessation of the conflict, facilitation of the negotiation process and resuming the work of all institutions and bodies.
The rally saw the participation of the Bari citizens, local authorities, as well as representatives of the Catholic, Russian Orthodox and Ukrainian Orthodox churches. During the rally, the organizers started raising money for children in Donetsk.
Earlier on Saturday, a rally in support of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics was held in Paris. Some 100 people participated in the rally in an attempt to draw attention to the fact that civilian population was still suffering in the regions.
Since mid-April, the Kiev authorities launched a military operation in eastern Ukraine attempting to suppress independence supporters of the eastern regions. According to UN data, almost 3,700 people have been killed and more than 8,800 have been wounded since the start of the confrontation.
On September 5, a ceasefire was reached during a meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk, with a memorandum specifying steps for the ceasefire implementation being adopted on September 19. The opposing sides have repeatedly accused one another of the truce violation, although the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors said the ceasefire was generally holding.
