Gotha | "Education instead of bombs": Antimilitarists expelled from school

At the State Technical College for Construction, Economics, and Transport in Gotha, two students' protest against the presence of the German Armed Forces at the "Connect" career fair resulted in a six-day suspension. "The peace of the school was repeatedly and deliberately disturbed," the school administration informed the offenders after their "hearing" on Tuesday. However, the adult students must participate in "distance learning," according to the order.

During the days of their exclusion, both students had "the opportunity to reflect on their own misconduct," the letter states. The alleged offense: At the beginning of the event on April 4, the vocational students distributed pink balloons from the German Peace Society around the Bundeswehr stand, held discussions with soldiers present, and offered informational materials. With a banner reading "Education instead of bombs," they also criticized the military presence at educational institutions in general.

Not only did the two students ignore a warning from their class teacher, but they even "held the banner in front of the camera" for a report in the "Thüringer Allgemeine" newspaper , the administration complained to the two students. Other graduates of the technical school see the Bundeswehr as their employer and do not share the protesters' views, according to the justification for the reprimand, which the class conference also endorsed.

The school administration allegedly issued a prior order that protests could only take place outside the school building. However, the protesting students emphasize that they were unaware of this announcement.

"At school you learn how important peace is, and then the Bundeswehr is allowed to come to the school to advertise here - and that after Afghanistan and Mali," one of the protesters wasquoted as saying by the Information Center on Militarization (IMI).

A similar protest had already taken place at the vocational school in Gotha last year – this is cited as an aggravating factor in the current reprimand. At the time, headmistress Andrea Nette allegedly suggested that students who disagreed with the presence of the Bundeswehr might ask themselves "whether this was the right school" for them – a phrase that could be interpreted as a threat of permanent expulsion. Nette could not be reached for comment by "nd" and did not respond to emails.