By Juan Palop

Hanover, Germany, Apr 23 (EFE).– Tens of thousands of people protested Saturday in Hanover against the TTIP trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, on a day when both U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their unyielding support for the project.

The largest of the eight protests called with the backing of some 30 environmentalist groups, humanitarian organizations, unions and political parties, brought together some 25,000 people according to police – and as many as 90,000, according to the organizers.

The march went off peacefully through downtown Hanover to the sound of music and featuring slogans against free trade agreements, genetically modified products, multinationals and lobbys, and was escorted by some 30 tractors and a gigantic wooden horse under the words “TTIP: A Trojan?”

The demonstrators all decried the project to approve the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, alleging that it will reduce the quality standards of products, damage the environment, wreak havoc with labor rights and limit the sovereignty of member nations.

“We’re not against a fair agreement between Europe and the United States. But we are against one that gives all the privileges to the multinationals,” Germany’s former Environment Minister Jurgen Trittin said.

Meanwhile, Merkel and Obama, the two strongest defenders of the TTIP on either side of the Atlantic, spoke separately about the importance of the trade agreement going forward.

Obama arrives in Hanover on Sunday, where he and Merkel will inaugurate the Hanover Messe, the world’s largest industrial fair, at which the U.S. is this year’s special guest nation. EFE