[PEN-L:4707] Bonn demo (Reuter's report) (fwd)

[D Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>]

> Anti-austerity rally draws 350,000 to Bonn
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Copyright ® 1996 Nando.net
> Copyright ® 1996 Reuter Information Service
>
> BONN (Jun 15, 1996 11:29 a.m. EDT) - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators
> from across Germany packed central Bonn on Saturday for a huge rally to
> protest against Chancellor Helmut Kohl's plans to slash public spending and
> cut social benefits.
>
> Police said up to 350,000 people had gathered for the rally, sponsored by
> the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), putting the event on a par with
> the biggest demonstration in Bonn in the post-war era -- an anti-NATO
> protest in 1982.
>
> DGB activists, representatives from church groups, student organisations
> and opposition politicians were among those who gathered in warm sunshine
> in the Hofgarten square in front of the city's university. Some chanted
> "Kohl must go."
>
> DGB leader Dieter Schulte told the protesters Kohl's plans to cut pensions,
> sick pay and other benefits threatened Germany's post-war social consensus.
> He recalled the 1982 peace rally which also drew around 350,000
> demonstrators to the city.
>
> "At that time, the issue was international peace," Schulte said. "Today,
> just like then, our future and the future of our children is the issue.
> Today, domestic peace is at stake."
>
> The protesters, some blowing whistles, honking foghorns, playing musical
> instruments or carrying banners with slogans such as "Kohl is gambling with
> social peace," arrived in thousands of special trains and coaches from
> across the country.
>
> Police said the vast majority of the demonstrators had behaved well but
> reported around 300 anarchists had pelted police with stones near the
> rally. Three police officers were injured and one of them was taken to
> hospital.
>
> The DGB called the rally, under the banner "Off to Bonn!," as a national
> stand against the government's planned austerity drive, aimed at lowering
> labour costs in Germany and helping the country qualify for the single
> European currency.
>
> The sunny weather, a procession of around 100 motorcycles and pre-rally
> entertainment from pop groups and folk musicians created a relaxed carnival
> atmosphere but Schulte remained determined to send a tough message to Kohl
> in his own backyard.
>
> "When solidarity is the order of the day, those who already have barely
> enough to live are mercilessly given further burdens to bear," Schulte
> said. "This government is fighting the jobless instead of deploying courage
> and energy to create more jobs."
>
> His comments were echoed by other trade unionists on the platform. "The
> anti-social and unjust policies of the government are splitting our
> society," said Roland Issen of the DAG white-collar union.
>
> The protesters, whose influx more than doubled Bonn's population for the
> day, made their views equally clear. Two men dressed as undertakers erected
> a mock gallows with an effigy bearing the words "welfare state" on one
> route to the rally.
>
> Another demonstrator wore a T-shirt with a U.S. flag next to the words:
> "You have Bill Clinton, Stevie Wonder, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash." Next to a
> German flag below, it read: "We have Helmut Kohl. No Wonder. No Hope. No
> Cash."
>
> "We want the government to reconsider its savings plans," said another
> protester, Karl-Josef Schiffer, an official from the IG Bergbau mining
> union. "I think if 300,000 people come on to the streets today, it will be
> forced to think again."
>
> Kohl has vowed he will not be influenced by the protest at the Hofgarten,
> scene of many of Germany's peace rallies in the 1970s and 1980s as the Cold
> War raged.
>
> The chancellor insists the measures are necessary to make Germany more
> competitive in the international labour market.
>
> City authorities had taken exceptional measures to deal with the rally,
> setting up a hotline for residents, distributing fly-sheets on special
> arrangements and hiring all available portable toilets from the surrounding
> area.
>