Tens of thousands protest German government’s rearmament policy in Berlin and Stuttgart

On Friday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin and Stuttgart to oppose the German government’s policy of rearmament and militarization.

According to a report in Unsere Zeit, 20,000 people gathered in Berlin and 15,000 in Stuttgart, making speeches in favor of “peace and diplomacy.”

The two major demonstrations were organized by the “Let’s not be ready for war again! Stand up for peace” preparatory committee. Approximately 500 organizations, initiatives, and groups supported the demonstrations.

According to the organizing committee’s press release, this joint commitment enabled thousands of people to peacefully take to the streets in Berlin and Stuttgart to express their “commitment to a different policy.”

Speakers took a strong stance against the German government’s rearmament plans, condemned Germany’s complicity in the Israeli actions in Gaza, opposed compulsory military service, rejected the deployment of new US medium-range weapons in Germany from 2026, and called for diplomacy instead of arms deliveries.

They emphasized that the course of the war would make the Federal Republic of Germany “even more antisocial.”

In Berlin, Jutta Kausch-Henken said, “We are here to say a definitive ‘no’ to completely insane rearmament, arms exports, and wars all over the world.”

Christian Leye, Secretary General of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), criticized the labeling of anyone who speaks of peace as a “Putin sympathizer” or “Hamas representative.”

Left Party MEP Özlem Demirel called on the German government to “stop being complicit in the genocide in Gaza” and said that Berlin “must recognize the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”

Andrea Hornung, Federal Chair of the Socialist German Workers’ Youth (SDAJ), also spoke in Berlin, addressing the discussions about reintroducing compulsory military service. She said this was being done using “salami-slicing tactics” and stated, “Let’s put an end to this! We are very numerous here, we are sending a very strong message, and we can become even more numerous!”