Thousands took to the streets of eastern German cities on Monday in a second week of protests against unpopular labour market reforms that are set to escalate ahead of regional elections next month. The rallies have drawn parallels with the "Monday demonstrations" that helped bring down the Berlin Wall in 1989 and test the government's resolve to implement its reforms as planned at the start of next year. In the city of Magdeburg, police said more than 10,000 protesters gathered, chanting, blowing whistles and waving banners. Ten thousand marched in Leipzig, the focus of protests that helped topple the East German regime, while in Halle and Dessau, also in eastern Germany, some 6,000 demonstrated, police said. The protests are focused on plans to cut unemployment aid and means-test benefits, the final and most radical step in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's efforts to lift Europe's largest economy out of three years of stagnation.
