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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kate Connolly in Berlin

More than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over German rearmament policy

A large crowd of young protesters holds cardboard signs and flags in an urban square
Young people protesting at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin in March over Germany's new military service legislation. Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

Tens of thousands of pupils across Germany are expected to boycott the classroom and take to the streets in a nationwide protest organisers say is to stop the government’s rearmament policy turning young people into “cannon fodder”.

Despite threats from teachers’ associations and education ministries, which have said anyone who demonstrates during school hours could risk penalties and even expulsion, organisers say they expect the number of participants at Friday’s school strike to be at least as high as the estimated 50,000 who attended each of the first two.

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