Berlin protest against NATO presence in Afghanistan - Summary

Berlin - Around 1,500 people from across Germany demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday against NATO's military presence in Afghanistan. The protesters, summoned by the Left Party and various peace groups, met to march on the Reichstag - the seat of parliament - and the Brandenburg gate in central Berlin.

Church critic Eugen Drewermann called for troops to leave Afghanistan immediately during an address to the demonstrators.

"We are not chasing the terrorists - we are the terrorists in Afghanistan," Drewermann said, calling upon German soldiers to follow some of their American counterparts and reject the order to kill. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle issued a warning to the demonstrators, telling them not to be "naive."

If international troops withdrew and left Afghanistan to its own resources, there would be no new wells and no girls would attend school, Westerwelle said in a statement, adding that withdrawal would be a "significant threat" to European security.

On Friday, the German parliament is to vote on government plans to increase the country's troop contingent in Afghanistan by up to 850 soldiers, to a total of 5,350.

Most Green Party members intended to abstain from the vote, the party's deputy parliamentary leader Frithjof Schmidt told German Press Agency dpa.

The Greens were still in favor of a "stabilization mission," Schmidt said, but added that there were a "series of unclear issues and inconsistencies," contained within the new mandate.

The parliamentary majority for Chancellor Angela Merkel's center- right government is expected to be sufficient for the bill to pass into law.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310346,berlin-protest-against-nato-presence-in-afghanistan--summary.html.