Under the motto “No to rearmament, conscription and war!,” around 7-8,000 participants at a rally and march for German Reunification Day on October 3, 2026 in Stuttgart called, among other things, for an end to arms deliveries and economic sanctions. Instead, they demanded higher spending in the social sector. Other demands included the closure of all U.S military bases in Germany and the withdrawal of U.S nuclear weapons from Germany.
An alliance of around 300 organizations had called for the event. These included peace and anti-war groups, the German-Palestinian Society, the alliance against conscription as well as individual local Verdi (German services trade union) groups. Former EKD (Protestant Church in Germany) Council Chair Margot Käßmann addressed the rally in a video. Other speakers included deputy Left Party chair Özlem Alev Demirel, former Bundestag member Sevim Dagdelen, and a member of the federal executive board of BSW (formerly Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, now Bündnis Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft, Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Sanity), according to Wochenblatt.
The event was moderated by Wiltrud Rösch-Metzler (Pax Christi Rottenburg-Stuttgart) and Heike Haensel (BSW Baden-Wuerttemberg).
What was striking was the high number of older people among the demonstrators, as well as young people from the school strike against conscription, whose representatives also gave several short speeches from the podium. The rally was significantly larger than in previous years, and this time many participants had traveled from farther afield. The genuine willingness to stand up for world peace was palpable.
It therefore seems that the concern about war and economic decline has now reached the German population! This was evident from the many homemade cardboard signs, banners and flags that people had brought with them, as well as from the lively interest in our newspapers and leaflets. In total, we (CAM and MS) distributed several hundred leaflets and copies of Neue Solidarität, as well as one information package containing the current issue of Neue Solidarität, the appeal to Pope Leo and a BüSo pamphlet each for Dagdelen and Rösch-Metzler.
Toward the end of the rally, just as Dagdelen was beginning her speech, several hundred, some of them masked, members of the Black Bloc/Antifa attempted to gain access to the stage in order to prevent her appearance. The police intervened with several hundred officers, mounted police and tear gas, secured the stage and arrested several protesters, whereupon Antifa disrupted the speech with loud chants, whistles and electrically amplified sirens. After a few minutes, the event was able to continue, although Dagdelen’s words could not be understood.
After this incident, the rally ended peacefully after about 3 hours.
