German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s angry reaction to protesters who demanded an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine has gone viral on social media.
Dozens of people booed Scholz on Friday evening during a party rally in Falkensee, a town in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
Angry protesters booed loudly, whistled and some of them chanted “warmonger”, “get lost!" and “we are the people!".
The Social Democrat politician reacted angrily to the protesters, defended his government’s foreign policy, and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.
“Putin is the warmonger!. He marched into Ukraine with 200,000 soldiers and he has mobilized a lot more,” Scholz said.
He also argued that his government had no choice but to provide Ukraine with weapons to defend itself.
“While you are shouting ‘make peace without weapons,’ Putin is massing unbelievable numbers of tanks, rockets, ballistic missiles and he’s aimed them at Ukraine. He is destroying cities, he is destroying villages,” he said.
Vladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian ex-boxer and brother of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, has thanked Chancellor Scholz on social media.
“It feels great that the German Chancellor is finding these clear words and it also moves me personally how emotionally @Bundeskanzler is reacting to the Putin friends. Thank you, Olaf Scholz, for defending us so resolutely!” he said on Twitter.
German Chancellor Scholz is under growing pressure at home due to the cost of living crisis, surge in gas prices, and rising energy bills.
A new poll last week has shown that Chancellor Scholz’s ruling coalition slumped to an all-time low, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) jumped to a record high.
The poll by public broadcaster ARD showed that 79% of those surveyed were either less than happy or not happy at all with Scholz’s center-left liberal coalition government. Only 20% of voters said the government was performing well.