LEIPZIG, Germany, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The latest round of German labor protests drew about 70,000 demonstrators Monday, fewer than expected and fewer than the week before.
Organizers had hoped for significantly more than the approximately 100,000 marchers who demonstrated last week against proposed reforms to the German labor market in what have become weekly protests, German newspaper Die Welt reports.
One reason for the drop in the number of demonstrators was a widening split between those opposed to the specific proposed reforms package known as Hartz IV and those opposed to the entire Social Democratic government currently in power in Germany.
A planned speaking engagement by former Social Democratic Party chief Oskar Lafontaine at next week's round of demonstrations has brought the infighting to a head, with some welcoming Lafontaine and others rejecting his presence.
The so-called "Monday Demonstrations" started in July in the former East Germany.
