BERLIN, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- About 40,000 east Germans marched Monday in a protest like those that toppled communism in the region and directed against proposed labor reforms.
The marches, which took place in about 90 cities across the former East Germany, came in response to a package of proposed changes in German unemployment and welfare law known as Hartz IV, the German newspaper Die Welt reports. The changes, which are set to take effect in January 2005, would reduce unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed and make other changes intended to invigorate Germany's lagging economy.
Protesters made conscious references to the series of protest marches that preceded the fall of Communism in 1989. Some carried signs bearing slogans developed in opposition to the so-called "people's government" of the Communist East, including the famous slogan: "WE are the people."
Mainstream politicians largely dismissed the demonstrations, saying the Hartz IV reforms are a necessary measure to improve the German economy.
