Berlin - Fresh from hosting euphoric celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel got back to business on Tuesday with a major speech to parliament planned.
Merkel, re-elected to a second term in late September, was due to outline to parliament at 10.00GMT her plans for the next four years, centred on pulling Europe's biggest economy out of its worst recession since World War II.
On Monday, Merkel and leaders past and present feted two decades to the day since the authorities in communist East Germany gave in to immense public pressure and threw open the border on the evening of November 9, 1989.
Continues Below ↓
Just eleven months later, West and East Germany became one country again, as other communist regimes across Eastern and Central Europe collapsed. Soon even the Soviet Union was no more.
The highlight of Monday's commemorations was a procession of leaders through the historic Brandenburg Gate that was blocked off to West Berliners for the 28 years of the wall's existence and which is now a symbol of German unity.
Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave rousing speeches and a surprise video address by US President Barack Obama was beamed in to cheering crowds.
"Today, there are still those who live within the walls of tyranny, human beings that are denied the very human rights that we celebrate today," Obama said.
"That is why this day is for them as much as it is for us."
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-Polish president Lech Walesa and dissidents who helped end European communism were also on hand at the former "death strip" where border guards once had shoot-to-kill orders.
A thousand giant dominoes along the former path of the hated concrete barrier were toppled before the night sky exploded with fireworks and live music entertained the more than 100 000 rain-soaked revellers.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
