At least 100,000 activists gathered in Berlin on Saturday to protest against the secretive TTIP trade deal, an agreement between the United States and European Union that opponents say will be damaging to average Europeans.
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They held up posters reading “People before corporations”, “Stop TTIP – Yes we can”, “The name of the crisis: Capitalism”, and “TTIP is a deal of lobbies- Treason against democracy”.
Police said around 100,000 took part in the demonstration, while organisers claimed 250,000 turned out, banging on drums, chanting slogans and waving signs and flags opposing the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Then there is the question of how to integrate Europe’s farm animal welfare standards into the world’s biggest trade deal which critics complain is being drawn up in secret.
Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the German capital against the massive free-trade accord being negotiated by the European Union and the United States.
Campaigners are particularly angered over Washington’s insistence that as part of the pact, private companies be allowed to sue governments before special tribunals.
As Reuters adds, the level of resistance “has taken Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government by surprise and underscores the challenge it faces to turn the tide in favor of the deal which proponents say will create a market of 800 million and serve as a counterweight to China’s economic clout”.
Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned, in a letter published today in many German newspapers, against “scaremongering”.
“We have the chance to set new and good standards for growing global trade”.
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Hoffmann demanded fair world trade and argued for the preservation of strong labor rights, as well as ecological and environmental standards.
