German dole cut sparks riot
AP, Reuters
05jan05
BERLIN: Several hundred protesters clashed with police at a Berlin unemployment office yesterday as a sharp cut in jobless benefits took effect in a government effort to force people to find work.
Police in riot helmets used pepper spray as they prevented protesters from entering the office in Wedding, a working class neighbourhood with high unemployment. They made several arrests.
Protests in Nuremberg, Munich, Leipzig and Stuttgart each drew only a few dozen people, falling far short of mass marches by tens of thousands in August and September against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's labour market reforms.
The new law is part of Mr Schroeder's program to shake up the country's costly welfare benefit system and spur economic growth.
After people use up their basic jobless benefits - the duration of which varies - the system will lower their payments to E345 ($600) a month in western Germany and E331 in the formerly communist east, plus rent and heating allowances. Previously, people could receive more than half of their last net salary.
Also, those receiving the reduced aid may be forced to take part in government work projects paying E1 an hour if they do not find another job. But with the jobless rate above 10 per cent, many unemployed fear there won't be able to find work. The reforms are intended to help halve unemployment by 2010.