“No missile factory”: Hundreds protest in Leipzig against Covenant
Around 400 people demonstrated in Leipzig against U.S. company Covenant's planned cruise missile production. The BSW party group on the city council wants a public consultation.
Symbolic image · Photo: Oliver Storch / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Several hundred people protested in the German city of Leipzig on Saturday against U.S. company Covenant's planned arms factory. Under the slogan “No missile factory in Leipzig,” they marched from Augustusplatz through the city center to the Markt square; authorities put the number of participants at around 400, the German news agency dpa reported. Flags of left-wing groups and Palestinian flags were on display. The march had been registered by a private individual. The demonstrators are demanding an immediate halt to the project in the north of Leipzig.
Covenant plans to build the “Anthem” cruise missile there from 2027 and to make Leipzig its largest site worldwide. The Saxony state government welcomes the project; state premier Michael Kretschmer of the conservative CDU stressed security and deterrence at the opening of the production hall. Denmark wants to buy the weapon, while Russia warned of “catastrophic consequences.”
The group of the left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) on Leipzig's city council has called for a public consultation on the project and warns of hybrid warfare and possible attacks. The German military is also interested in low-cost cruise missiles: Army chief Christian Freuding told the Handelsblatt newspaper that two models were “under closer consideration.”