Thousands take part in March for Life rallies in Berlin, Cologne and Zurich
Organizers said about 6,000 people joined marches in Berlin and Cologne on September 19, 2026, and more than 2,200 gathered in Zurich. Counter-demonstrators disrupted 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 organizers. It was the fourth year in a row that the two German cities held the demonstration at the same time, under the motto "The right to life is a human right." The Cologne march set off at 1 p.m. from Neumarkt square and passed 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. Counter-demonstrators in green vests who had mixed in with those attending 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 counter-protest with roughly as many participants as the march itself.
In Berlin, the 22nd March for Life drew 4,200 people, according to the Bundesverband Lebensrecht (Federal Association for the Right to Life), though local police put the figure at 2,200. Five Bavarian bishops were among those taking part, joining in the defense 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 on 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. Around 200 masked cyclists tried to block the route and set off fireworks, and police stepped in so the event could go ahead. Officers used water cannon to disperse them.
Beatrice Gall, president of March for Life Switzerland, said close to 200,000 abortions have been carried out in the country since abortion was regulated in 2002. That has happened in a climate of silence which, she said, prevents the debate the issue 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 asked men to support 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."
Based on reporting by Almudena Rodrigo for Iglesia Noticias. This article was translated and adapted from Spanish with the help of artificial intelligence.
