Hundreds of German policemen demonstrated in border city of Frankfurt an der Oder on Thursday, voicing their opposition to job cutbacks after Poland joins the Schengen area next month.
"Yes to Europe, No to hasty reforms," read banners carried by the policemen on their march from the border close to Poland, German news agency DPA reported.
The protest, organized by police unions, is directed at reforms that envisage job cuts when the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic are completely opened on Dec. 21.
On that day, eight nations in Eastern Europe plus Malta join the European Union's Schengen system, which does away with internal passport controls.
Police fear 800 of the 2,100 police and customers officers based in the Frankfurt an der Oder region could be withdrawn when the new system takes effect, posing a risk to security.
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said earlier on Thursday that the scrapping of passport checks at land and sea borders would not diminish security for Germans living close to the border.
Other security checks would be introduced, he said after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Grzegorz Schetyna in the north-east German town of Heringsdorf near the border with Poland.
"Stationary border control points would be replaced by a mobile system of monitoring the border area, which is not expected to lead to a loss of security," the minister said.
Named after a small village in Luxembourg where it was signed in 1985, the Schengen Agreement abolishes internal border controls among participating states.
Source:Xinhua
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