Germans turn out for mass protests against government's welfare state cuts

[Judi Lynn]

Germans turn out for mass protests against government's welfare state cuts

GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, April 3, 2004


(04-03) 06:00 PST BERLIN (AP) --

Hundreds of thousands of Germans, demanding the government ease plans for what they called "social demolition," protested Saturday against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's unpopular drive to trim the welfare state.

Waving labor union flags and carrying placards urging Schroeder to throw his "agenda in the trash," more than 200,000 protesters converged in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, according to a police estimate.

Protests also were held in Stuttgart and Cologne, and organizers said the nationwide turnout was more than half a million. The union-led demonstrations were part of a "European day of action," targeting efforts by governments across the continent to reform creaking welfare systems and labor markets.

"This is a clear signal to the political and economic bosses that there must be an end to policies that hurt the bulk of the population and make the rich richer," Michael Sommer, the head of Germany's main labor federation, told protesters in Berlin.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/04/03/international0900EST0471.DTL

[Frederic Bastiat]

1. So once they kick Shroeder out of office

Whom will they be left with? The conservative Christian Democrats? Sounds counter-intuitive to me.