Organized by the “School Strike Against Conscription” activist group, the demonstrations erupted in cities large and small. At 10 a.m. students in Dresden, Hamburg, Schwerin, and elsewhere left classrooms for the streets. In Erfurt, several hundred young people, joined by parents and other adults, marched past multiple schools to Theaterplatz, accompanied by police and the sound of whistles.
In Kiel, police estimated that about 1,000 pupils turned out peacefully. Freiburg saw roughly 600 protesters.
In Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, authorities counted some 3,000 participants from noon on, many bearing posters and chanting slogans against reinstating compulsory service in the Bundeswehr. Families with young children and primary-school pupils carrying homemade signs also joined the crowd, Spiegel Online reported.
Sixteen-year-old Martin, a senior at a school in Brandenburg, told Politico he’s already considered ways to dodge the draft, from seeing a psychologist to claiming medical exemptions. “Why solve problems with weapons? It’s just a repeat of what led to World Wars I and II,” he said. “Why should I do what old people tell me? I’ll train for skills that won’t help me in life, except to kill.”
Seventeen-year-old Nils said he doesn’t oppose service for those who choose it, but he rejects the law’s mandatory nature. “This shouldn’t be forced on anyone,” he told Politico. “Maybe they should make soldiering more attractive to those who choose it.”
Also on Dec. 5, the Bundestag approved a reform requiring all 18-year-old men to fill out a questionnaire assessing their fitness and willingness to serve. The governing coalition also agreed to restore mandatory medical exams for men born in 2008 or later. If annual volunteer recruitment falls short, some examined men could be conscripted after a separate Bundestag vote.