Overview
- The Deutsche Polizeigewerkschaft (DPolG) staged a street protest in central Hamburg on Friday, with reporters citing roughly 100 to 150 participants at a rally timed to a Haushaltsausschuss session.
- Protesters opposed a proposed shift to a 41‑hour workweek for Landesbeamte without compensation, which union leader Thomas Jungfer called “politically organised theft” and labelled the Senate’s approach “Räuber im Rathaus.”
- The Senate’s draft double budget aims to save about €200 million from municipal civil‑service costs and lists concrete operational cuts that include ending the Hamburg mounted police by the end of 2027 and retiring two ~20‑year‑old helicopters.
- Finance Senator Andreas Dressel has defended the plan by noting that 41‑hour weeks already apply at the federal level and in some Länder, while the budget draft and the specific cuts remain under negotiation and are not final.
- Coverage varied on protest size and emphasis, with MOPO reporting about 150 participants and TAG24 about 100, and the dispute is likely to shape political debate and scrutiny of policing capacity as the Senate finalises the 2027/28 budget.