Germany news: Dobrindt vows to fight left-wing extremism

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Mass protests in Iran have prompted demonstrations in Berlin and Frankfurt.

Berlin police said about 1,400 people marched from the city's Kurfürstendamm shopping street to Adenauerplatz, with another 300 gathering at Wittenbergplatz, while police in Frankfurt put turnout there at around 1,300.

Demonstrators in Berlin waved flags and held placards in solidarity with protests in Iran, where rallies against the government have taken place in several major cities.

Only limited information has emerged from Iran after authorities imposed an internet blackout.

Some protesters in Berlin displayed images of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah overthrown in 1979. Placards included slogans such as "Democracy just with Pahlavi."

Winter storm "Elli" has continued to disrupt large parts of Germany, with rail travel still heavily affected in the north and more severe weather looming.

Services in the north were suspended on Friday amid heavy snowfall, are set to continue to see disruptions until Sunday, a spokeswoman for operator Deutsche Bahn told the DPA news agency. Key links such as the Hamburg-Hanover-Frankfurt and Berlin-Hanover-Düsseldorf lines remain affected, she said.

Other long-distance services to destinations outside Germany also remained suspended, including connections from northern Germany to Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

Regional rail services have also been restarting only gradually, after many trains and buses were temporarily halted.

Snowdrifts have caused particular problems in the north, where numerous accidents were reported at the start of the weekend, with similar conditions in eastern regions.

Attention has now shifted south, where the weather system is moving, bringing heavy snowfall to central and southern Germany.

The German Weather Service has forecast 20 to 30 centimeters (up to a foot) of fresh snow in the Black Forest and the Allgäu region by late night, with up to 50 centimeters possible at higher elevations.

Winter sports operators have welcomed the conditions, with ski areas reporting strong turnout.

More large-scale power outages such as the recent five-day blackout in Berlin could easily affect other large cities across Germany unless there is a drastic improvement in the government's crisis response, the dbb civil servants union warned on Saturday.

"Berlin has shown that we are not prepared for crises of this kind. It's a disaster," union chairman Volker Geyer told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

"What happened in Berlin could happen anywhere else at any time — in Cologne, Stuttgart or Munich. The state must not allow itself to be made to look so foolish," he said.

He said the privatization of critical infrastructure had left the state helpless in such cases as the outage in Berlin, which was caused by an arson attack by suspected left-wing extremists on a bridge carrying cables over the Teltow Canal.

Among other things, Geyer called for an urgent review of the control mechanisms and legal requirements pertaining to the operators of critical infrastructure.

The dbb is Germany's largest union for public servants and employees in related private sectors, with more than 1.2 million members.

The power outage in Berlin initially left 100,000 people without electricity, heating, internet and mobile phone services amid freezing temperatures.

The blackout lasted from Saturday to Wednesday, when power was completely restored.

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Politicians from both coalition partners in Germany's government have come out in favor of higher prices for alcohol to help reduce excessive consumption.

The remarks by health affairs spokespeople from the parliamentary parties of Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) come after figures released by the German Federal Statistical Office showed that alcoholic beverages in Germany cost 14% below the EU average, with only Italy selling them more cheaply.

"International experiences show very clearly that a moderate rise in alcohol prices reduces risky consumption in particular, above all in the case of youth and big drinkers," Christos Pantazis from the SPD told the daily Rheinische Post.

The current tax on alcohol in Germany was no longer in keeping with the times, Pantazis said, as it had barely been changed over many years and had thus lost its power to guide behavior.

This meant "a central instrument of prevention" was not being used, he added.

His CDU counterpart, Simone Borchardt, said revenue from any tax on alcohol should be used to pay for more "prevention, addiction counselling, therapy services and the treatment of alcohol-related diseases."

She said the focus should "clearly be on high-percentage alcoholic beverages."

Her ideas were seconded by Nicola Buhlinger-Göpfarth, the chair of the family doctors association (HÄV), who said the revenue from a tax should go toward "measures promoting a healthy lifestyle and enhancing care."

Ahead of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's trip to India with an economic delegation on Sunday, a leading foreign trade expert has told the dpa news agency that German business could benefit greatly from the visit.

"India is an increasingly important trading partner for the German economy," Volker Treier, foreign trade chief of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), said.

"Given its economic dynamism, young population and growing industrial base, India is rapidly gaining relevance for our companies — especially for the diversification of supply chains and the expansion of international value creation."

He said, however, that despite its size, India currently ranks only 23rd among Germany's trading partners, while Germany holds first place among India's EU trading partners.

But the trade volume between the two countries has doubled in the past decade, reaching €31 billion ($36 billion) in 2024, with Germany exporting more than it imported.

German products sent to India include machinery, chemical products, aircraft, ships and trains, while the main imports to Germany are pharmaceuticals and goods from the Indian chemical industry, machinery and clothing.

In addition, some 2,000 German companies have branches in India that employ more than 500,000 people overall.

Merz's three-day trip comes as Berlin seeks to reduce reliance on China by strengthening trade ties with other countries.

In 2023, direct German investment in India stood at €27 billion, while German companies have built manufacturing capacities in China worth €100 billion.

A number of demonstrations are to take place in the German capital on Saturday to show support with Iranian protesters calling for the end of the clerical system in place in their country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The series of rallies will kick off with a demonstration entitled "Solidarity with the just uprising of the Iranian people, remembrance of victims of the recent violence in Iran and protest against the death penalty," which is to be held in the morning on the "Platz des 18. März" in the Mitte district.

Three other demonstrations have been registered with authorities for the afternoon.

DW will bring you coverage of the demonstrations throughout the day.

As northern German regions begin to experience some relief after heavy snowfall on Friday, the south of the country is bracing for its turn to be covered in white.

The Allgäu region in the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg is predicted to receive 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) of fresh snow by Saturday night, while the Black Forest could see as much as 50 cm, forecasters say.

Long-distance train services in the north were initially expected to resume operations from 10 a.m. (0900 GMT), according to national rail operator Deutsche Bahn, but a spokeswoman later told the dpa news agency that they would restart at midday.

She said services would, however, remain heavily limited.

This comes after a day on which bus and train services were severely disrupted, with all buses canceled in Hannover and surrounding regions on Friday evening. Many traffic accidents were also reported.

The snow has had its positive side for those who enjoy winter sports, with numerous ski regions in Saxony, Thuringia and Hesse profiting from excellent conditions.

Temperatures are also expected to fall across the country on Saturday, with -15 C (5 F) possible in some locations during the night to Sunday.

The DW newsroom in Bonn says guten Tag as Germany remains in the grip of a cold spell that has brought lower-than-average temperatures and snow across the country.

The heavy snowfall seen in many northern regions, which has caused severe disruptions to transport, is now forecast to move southward, with parts of Bavaria and the Black Forest expected to be particularly affected.

Despite the literally freezing weather in Berlin, protests are to held in solidarity with Iranian anti-government demonstrators who are currently facing the threat of a brutal crackdown.

You can read more on these and other stories in DW's Germany news blog.