Skip to content Skip to footer
|

Thousands March Against Austerity in Frankfurt

On Saturday, thousands marched to protest against unchecked capitalism and Chancellor Angela Merkelu2019s insistence on austerity measures for much of Europe.

An earlier Blockupy Frankfurt protest, Römerberg, Germany, May 16, 2012. (Photo: Eoghan OLionnain)

Do you support Truthout’s reporting and analysis? Click here to help fund it.

Berlin – Thousands of people on Saturday marched through the heart of Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital and the home of the European Central Bank, to protest against unchecked capitalism and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence on austerity measures for much of Europe.

The peaceful event, called Blockupy, in a nod to the Occupy movement, was the culmination of four days of demonstrations and drew about 20,000 protesters to Frankfurt, the police and organizers said.

The protest, which drew supporters from across Europe, was meant to send a “clear and visible signal of international solidarity against the authoritarian crisis management and the poverty inducing policies of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” organizers said.

Germany has pushed for deep spending cuts across Europe to control the debt crisis.

Ms. Merkel faces mounting criticism for championing what critics regard as a rigid agenda of fiscal discipline that has made unfair demands on countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain.

Speaking from the Group of 8 meeting in the United States on Saturday, Ms. Merkel sought to play down criticism that she was solely focused on austerity, or consolidation, saying Germany would be open to increasing loans and credits to struggling nations through the European Investment Bank.

“The important message is this: Consolidation and growth are the two sides of the same medallion,” Ms. Merkel said, according to the German broadcaster ARD.

This article, “Thousands March Against Austerity in Frankfurt,” originally appears at the New York Times News Service.

We’re not going to stand for it. Are you?

You don’t bury your head in the sand. You know as well as we do what we’re facing as a country, as a people, and as a global community. Here at Truthout, we’re gearing up to meet these threats head on, but we need your support to do it: We still need to raise $14,000 to ensure we can keep publishing independent journalism that doesn’t shy away from difficult — and often dangerous — topics.

We can do this vital work because unlike most media, our journalism is free from government or corporate influence and censorship. But this is only sustainable if we have your support. If you like what you’re reading or just value what we do, will you take a few seconds to contribute to our work?