Leaders to fete fall of Berlin Wall at giant bash
9 Nov : World leaders past and present on Monday have gathered for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with 100,000 people expected at celebrations to toast a free and united Europe.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French and Russian presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev and representatives from across the European Union as well as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of German unity.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-Polish president Lech Walesa and dissidents who helped bring down the Wall and end European communism would also be on hand at the former “death strip” between East and West Berlin.
At a ceremony late Sunday kicking off the official festivities, Clinton issued a call for a new transatlantic push to free those still oppressed.”Our history did not end the night the Wall came down,” she said.
“To expand freedom to more people, we cannot accept that freedom does not belong to all people. We cannot allow oppression defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace that of (communist) ideology.”
On the night of 9th November 1989, following weeks of pro-democracy protests, East Germany’s Stalinist authorities suddenly opened the border.
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