350,000 in Bonn Protest Kohl’s Plans to Slash Social Spending
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BONN — Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators from across Germany packed central Bonn on Saturday for a rally to protest Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s plans to slash public spending and cut social benefits.
Police said up to 350,000 people gathered for the rally, sponsored by the German Trade Union Federation, or DGB, making it one of the city’s biggest postwar demonstrations.
DGB activists, representatives from church groups, student organizations and opposition politicians were among those who gathered in a square in front of the city’s university.
DGB leader Dieter Schulte told the protesters that Kohl’s plans to cut pensions, sick pay and other benefits threaten Germany’s postwar social consensus.
Kohl has vowed that he will not be influenced by the protest.
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