BERLIN - Some 4,000 people marched in Munich on Saturday calling on leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized countries to take action to fight poverty, climate change and world hunger and end dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
Leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan will meet on Sunday at a three-day summit at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian mountains, aiming to increase pressure on Russia whose actions in Ukraine have created food and energy shortages across the globe.
Protesters carried banners reading "Stop The War Russia And USA/NATO Hands Off Ukraine" and "Imperialism Starts Here", and demanded the G7 allocate more funds for crisis prevention, civil conflict management and economic development.
"Today, we are at the G7 again because we realised that nothing has improved ... it's been going on for so long, that we are destroying ourselves," said Lisa Munz, a protestor wearing a hat topped with a stuffed chicken.
The protest was sponsored by more than 15 organizations including WWF Germany, Oxfam Deutschland, Greenpeace and Bread for the World.
"The colourful demonstration is a clear sign of how strong the desire of many people is for a fundamentally different policy in the G7 countries," Oxfam Deutschland said in a statement.
G7 leaders are set to discuss setting up a climate club to better coordinate carbon pricing and other schemes for reducing emissions. Nearly 20,000 police officers have been deployed to ensure security at the summit.