Some east Germans liken the rallies to the 1989 protests

The biggest demonstrations took place in eastern Germany, with more than 20,000 on the streets of Leipzig and 15,000 in Berlin, police said.

Organisers said the rallies on Monday were the biggest since the protests erupted two weeks ago.

The new measures, due to take effect next year, would lower long-term unemployment benefits.

The government made concessions last week on the timing of the first payments, but insisted on Monday there would be no more fine-tuning of the "Hartz IV" legislation.

Long-term unemployment benefits are to be reduced to the level of social welfare payments, meaning a large cut in income for many families.

Correspondents say it would be the biggest overhaul of Germany's generous welfare system in decades.

Echoes of 1989

In Magdeburg, where the demonstrations began, 13,000 protesters took to the streets on Monday.

All decisions will be implemented, there will be no corrections Bela Anda Chancellor Schroeder's spokesman

There were smaller demonstrations in several cities in western Germany.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says the measures are aimed at reinvigorating the German economy.

As part of the reform package, the unemployed would be required to use family savings and life insurance policies to support themselves.

The government has rejected comparisons between the protests and the Monday demonstrations in the former East Germany in 1989 that helped to bring down the Berlin Wall.

Unemployment in eastern Germany is 18.5%, twice the level of that in many western German regions.