Tens of thousands of Germans protests on Saturday against what is being touted as Germany's biggest austerity drive since World War Two.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s increasingly unpopular coalition on Monday agreed a package of budget cuts and taxes to bring the federal structural deficit within European Union limits by 2013.
Police estimated that up to 10,000 people demonstrated against the package in Stuttgart on Saturday, while organisers said between 15,000 and 20,000 people took part in the protests in Berlin.
"The crisis is called capitalism", "Employment, human rights, secure future for everyone" and "Pensions should be enough to live on", read the banners of protesters.
Merkel’s government proposed saving 30 billion euros ($36.11 billion) over the next four years in welfare, mainly from unemployment benefits, and slashing thousands of federal government jobs.
A new poll by Infratest dimap showed that 79 percent of Germans thought the savings package was not socially balanced and 93 percent thought measures were not enough to meet the government’s savings goal.
