More than 70,000 people took to the streets in cities across Germany on Monday, opposing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's controversial reform of unemployment benefits.

Some 20,000 people took part in demonstrations in eastern German city of Magdeburg while 10,000 people took to the streets in Berlin, German News Agency DPA reported.

Western German cities such as Cologne, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Hamburg also witnessed protests against the benefits cut for the long-term unemployed.

Monday's protests show the government's concession to its planned employment market reforms have done little to change the frustrated mood among the public.

Schroeder's center-left government has been facing a record low of popularity recently although Germany's economy is back on a modest recovery track after three years of stagnation.

The government has pledged to push forward its economic and social reform to boost the economy

Source: Xinhua