Germany on Saturday is marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a line up series of events to commemorate one of the defining moments of modern European history.
The breaching of the wall on November 9, 1989, followed a peaceful and popular uprising across communist East Germany amid moves among nations in Soviet-controlled Central Europe to break away from Moscow and shift toward Western-style democracies.
About 200 events have been held over the last week in Berlin alone, including footage beamed onto a building in central Berlin of the 155-kilometer-long wall being breached by thousands of East Germans streaming into the west.
Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate has been the setting for an art installation featuring around 30,000 ribbons with people’s wishes, hopes and memories, combined into a 150-meter long “freedom cloud.”
To mark the actual day when the wall fell, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to attend a commemoration at the Berlin Wall Memorial today.
