Thousands take part in March for Life events in Berlin, Cologne and Zurich
Organizers said about 6,000 people joined the German marches on September 19, 2026, while more than 2,200 gathered in Zurich, with counter-demonstrators disrupting the events in Cologne and Zurich
About 6,000 people took part in the March for Life events in Berlin and Cologne on September 19, 2026, according to the organizers. It was the fourth year in a row that the two German cities held the demonstration on the same day, under the motto "The right to life is a human right." In Cologne, the march set off at 1 p.m. from Neumarkt square and moved through the city center. It was organized by Mona Schwaderlapp, a 27-year-old occupational therapist and mother of three.
The day was not without incident. A group of counter-demonstrators in green vests who had mingled with those taking part threw paint at an information stand run by the pro-life foundation Stiftung Ja zum Leben and set off purple smoke bombs. Cologne police had expected a protest gathering of roughly the same size as the march.
In Berlin, the 22nd March for Life drew 4,200 people, according to the Bundesverband Lebensrecht, the German federal association for the right to life. Local police put the figure at 2,200. Five Bavarian bishops took part in support of the right to life from conception to natural death. The president of the Bundesverband Lebensrecht, Alexandra Linder, said that "democracy implies universal human dignity, the right to life from conception to natural death and the prohibition of killing the innocent."
The same day, more than 2,200 people gathered in the Zurich district of Oerlikon under the motto "Together for Life!" The Swiss march also met resistance. About 200 masked cyclists tried to block the route and set off fireworks. Police used water cannons to disperse them so the event could go ahead.
The president of the Swiss March for Life, Beatrice Gall, said close to 200,000 abortions have been carried out in the country since abortion was regulated in 2002. She said a climate of silence around the issue prevents the debate it needs. Gall called for public discussion of the high abortion rates and their consequences, and said that "defending human life is not backward, it is progressive."
Gall also called on men to stand by their partners rather than push them toward abortion, and said that "the mother's womb should be the safest place in the world, not the most dangerous."
