BERLIN, April 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly half a million people turned out in three major German cities Saturday to express their anger at the social reform programs implemented by the government.

    The marches, rallies and demonstrations were organized by trade unions and an array of social lobby organizations, anti-globalization groups and anti-war activists.

    The protesters urged Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his government to roll back the social reform programs the Agenda 2010 which they said would reduce federal funding in welfare and health services as well as pension benefits.

    In Berlin, 270,000 protesters converged at downtown Brandenburg Gate, while 100,000 took to the streets in Cologne and 125,000 in Stuttgart, according to organizers.

    Speaking at the rally in Berlin, Michael Sommer, head of the German Labor Federation, said that the huge turnout was a "a clearsignal to those in power" that working-class Germans oppose Schroeder's attempts to rekindle the national economy by paring social-welfare, health and pension programs.

    In a press interview prior to the demonstrations, Schroeder acknowledged that he had "failed to get the message across" to many Germans that his reforms are necessary to rejuvenate the nation's economy and to avert bankruptcy of national health and pension systems.

    "There is no turning back," the chancellor said. asking the nation to give a chance to his social reform programs. Enditem