Hundreds of people have gathered at Berlin’s central Brandenburg Gate for a demonstration and concert opposing the possibility of a return to military service, and German plans to increase defense spending.ย
Gathered under the motto “unwzingbar,” which you might translate as “incoercable” or perhaps even “unconscriptable,” the crowd chanted slogans like “military service, never again,” and “the rich want war, the poor want a future.”ย
Police estimated turnout early on Friday evening at about 2,000, albeit with a program that was set to continue for a few more hours, until about 9 p.m. local time.ย
Organizers included groups like Attac, a left-leaning group primarily focused on a call for a tax on financial transactions, The DFG-VK German Peace Association, and the IJV International Youth Association.
Germany is not as yet reintroducing a period of military or civilianย service, which it had for many but not all young men until as recently as 2011, but some politicians have warned it might ultimately be necessary.ย
For now, the Bundeswehr military has started sending a questionnaire to 18-year-old’s โ with boys obliged to participate and girls invited to do so โ seeking to gauge their theoretical interest in serving. The Bundeswehr says that this, coupled with a more general recruitment drive, has so far led to it hitting recruitment targets as it seeksย to expand theย ranks in the coming years.
The organizers also appealed to the government to reallocate the increased spending it foresees for defense into other social areas, some of which are facing the prospect of cuts.ย
Similar demonstrations are expected on Saturday in Berlin and Stuttgart.ย