Overview
- Trade unions led a national action day on Saturday that the DGB said drew about 175,000 people nationwide, with large turnouts in Frankfurt, Stuttgart and other cities to oppose the government’s reform package on pensions, working time and health co-payments.
- The protests have sharpened political tensions inside the governing coalition, with the CDU’s Arbeitnehmerflügel and local party chapters publicly criticizing Chancellor Friedrich Merz and calling for a broader party reorientation.
- State security and police deployed Bereitschaftspolizei and mounted units to Darmstadt on Saturday to manage a planned Reichsbürger 'Bundesstaatentreffen' that organisers had registered for 1,500 participants while several hundred counter-protesters gathered nearby.
- The DOSB selected Munich as Germany’s candidate to bid for future Summer Games, a decision that starts a formal engagement process with the IOC and carries local cost estimates of roughly 10 billion euros for event and infrastructure work.
- Jürgen Klopp finalised his early Germany squads this weekend and omitted Nico Schlotterbeck from the UEFA roster for the home match against Greece, a decision framed by outlets as a rest after the defender’s long injury layoff.