Moderator detained after shouting anti-Merz slogan at Berlin school anti-conscription protest

A student demonstration opposing mandatory military service took place in Berlin, where the appointed moderator repeated a banned chant that called Friedrich Merz a "dog's son" and was arrested on the spot. Police also apprehended a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old on charges of slander against Merz, later releasing them after taking their personal information. The police reported a total of sixteen arrests, among them participants accused of vandalism after pyrotechnic devices were ignited on the roof of the Schiller Library.

The protest attracted several thousand participants, according to organizers. Left-wing activists described the police response as a "criminal clan" equipped with weapons, a characterization that was rebuked by the governing mayor as an unacceptable attack on law-enforcement. The incident highlights tensions between youth anti-conscription movements and authorities in Germany.