Fall of Berlin Wall celebrated with great fervour

Past and present leaders of the world, gathered in Berlin to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. German Chancellor, Angela Markel, along with world leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gordon Brown led a procession of leaders to the Bradenburg gate to celebrate the historic moment.

Thousands of Germans turned up for the celebrations and with great vigour and excitement re enacted the moment the Berlin wall came crashing down by toppling 1,000 giant Styrofoam dominoes. The dominoes were 8 feet tall and were laid along two kilometers of the former wall’s course. The fall of the Berlin wall was later followed by the fall of all the major communist states in Europe thereby ending communism in Europe. This was symbolically depicted in the toppling of dominoes.

On the night of 9th November twenty years ago, an announcement was issued, lifting travel restrictions. Within hours hundreds of people immediately left for west Germany, marking the most important milestone in the collapse of communism in Europe.

Angela Markel is the first East German to hold the country’s premier post, and was one of the thousands who crossed into West Germany that fateful night.

Also welcomed were former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev who was instrumental in pushing reforms in the Soviet Union. Lech Walesa, Poland’s pro-democracy leader was also invited as his campaign was responsible for providing incredible encouragement to East Germans.