"Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of Cologne on Saturday to protest the German government's plans to increase the country's defence budget and voice their opposition to Germany's military support for Ukraine and Israel. Footage shows protesters marching with flags and banners reading, 'lay down your arms,' 'deserters of all countries, we love you' and 'German health is built on war - resistance is built on solidarity.' "Every war has ultimately been resolved not on the battlefield, but at the negotiating table. So diplomacy is the answer, and unfortunately, that is what our government has not been striving for since the beginning," one protester said. Demonstrators denounced Germany's plans to expand its defence spending, voicing concerns that the increase would divert funds from other social programmes. "The money has to come from somewhere, and at the moment, all the leading parties are aiming to take it from the social budget. That means cuts for the unemployed, cuts for social services, cuts for educational institutions, cuts for refugees and so on. That's not being said openly yet, but there's no other way," a protester explained. Protesters also voiced opposition to any NATO military deployments in Ukraine, warning that such action would be a 'significant step towards World War Three.' "It would only increase the risk of war and the threat of a world war. And for the Ukrainian people and all other parties involved, it would only bring death, not liberation or self-determination," a protester claimed. "The only thing that might be acceptable would be blue helmets from the UN in a buffer zone. That might be a compromise we could live with," another suggested. This comes as Chancellor Friedrich Merz ripped up borrowing restrictions to ramp up defence spending, with 3.5 percent of economic output going towards defence over four years, and increasing the armed forces from 182,000 to 260,000 by the 2030s. Earlier this week, Merz also announced changes to military service, which he said would be 'voluntary' in the first instance but could go further, adding that the country was back on the 'path to a conscript army'. The chancellor has also suggested that German troops could be part of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine."