A crowd gathered in Martin Place on Tuesday afternoon to show its solidarity with the people of Ukraine after more than 40 days at war with Russia.
Sydney’s colourful “Lambo barrister”, Peter Lavac, made the most of the event’s “open mic” policy to call out Western leaders lacking strength in the face of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“This invasion would have never happened under Donald Trump’s watch,” he said.
“These cowardly Western leaders have thrown these wonderful, brave and courageous people to the walls because they are all shit scared of one bald little fat man.”
A few members of the crowd heckled Mr Lavac for his support of former US President Donald Trump.
Lavac, who is of Czech descent, shared with the crowd his personal experience living under Russian occupation as a child living in Czechoslovakia.
“I have never ever taken my liberty or freedom for granted because I haven’t always been free,” he said.
The former Hong Kong crown prosecutor and criminal lawyer made headlines last year for his legal battle with Transport NSW over “offensive” personalised number plates on his yellow Lamborghini.
“I have prosecuted and defended over 100 murder trials,” he said.
“I’ve had to deal with some of the most evil scum that walked this planet, but none of them ever came close to the most evil criminal of them all – Vladimir Putin.”
More than 50 people assembled in the amphitheatre of Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD draped in yellow and blue flags and carrying signs which read “I Stand With Ukraine”.
They kicked off the peaceful anti-war protest at 1pm by singing the Ukrainian national anthem over the hum of the city’s lunchtime traffic.
Anton Bogdanovych, a Ukrainian national and organiser of the anti-war rally, was palpable with emotion as he shouted into the amphitheatre.
“Our people are being terrorised, our cities are being destroyed, they are killing civilians indiscriminately,” he bellowed.
Pedestrians watched on as they walked by unable to look away from the display of solemn protest.
“We are here because we are hurting, because we are burning inside,” Mr Bogdanovych said.
“We are all hurting because of the horror, the genocide in cities like Bucha.
“We saw children killed in the head with a bullet and some of them had their hands tied behind their backs.”
The crowd chanted “Slava Ukraini” after each speaker finished their address – a national salute meaning “Glory to Ukraine”.
A minute of silence was observed to honour the fallen victims of the Russia-Ukraine war, but the silence soon faded as the crowd repeated the protest cries “Close the Sky Over Ukraine” and “More Weapons for Ukraine”.
“Ukraine, Ukrainian is winning, Russian army is retreating … is being kicked out,” Mr Bogdanovych rallied the attendees – a mix of concerned Australians and Ukrainian nationals fearing for their families’ lives.
He called on the crowd to write to their local MP demanding a no-fly zone be put in place over Ukraine and more weapons be sent to support troops on the ground.
An anti-war march is scheduled to go ahead at 2pm on Saturday, April 9 from Martin Place to Circular Quay.
