Peaceful Revolution
German President Horst Koehler paid tribute Friday to 70,000 East German citizens who braved a feared crackdown by communist security police and took to the streets of Leipzig in a historic demonstration 20 years ago.
The pro-democracy rallies in the city led directly to the breaching of the Berlin Wall less than a month later and German unification in October 1990.
"On October 9, 1989, 20 years ago, the people of Leipzig showed us what citizens can achieve when they believe in their own strength and take their destiny into their own hands," Koehler said at a ceremony in a concert hall in Leipzig, attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and other high-ranking politicians.
"In those October days, everything was on a knife's edge ... people had to expect the worst because there were clear threats," Koehler said, recalling fears the crowds would be crushed with the same brutality as pro-democracy protestors around Tiananmen Square, Beijing four months earlier.
"But the revolution stayed peaceful," he said
Pictures of Leipzig then and now (from Deutsche Welle ) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4776699,00.html
The pro-democracy rallies in the city led directly to the breaching of the Berlin Wall less than a month later and German unification in October 1990.
"On October 9, 1989, 20 years ago, the people of Leipzig showed us what citizens can achieve when they believe in their own strength and take their destiny into their own hands," Koehler said at a ceremony in a concert hall in Leipzig, attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and other high-ranking politicians.
"In those October days, everything was on a knife's edge ... people had to expect the worst because there were clear threats," Koehler said, recalling fears the crowds would be crushed with the same brutality as pro-democracy protestors around Tiananmen Square, Beijing four months earlier.
"But the revolution stayed peaceful," he said
Pictures of Leipzig then and now (from Deutsche Welle ) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4776699,00.html
posted by Richard Trewin | 7:27 AM
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