Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. World leaders are gathered to mark the historic event although not all Germans are happy with the unification.
For some, the reunification of the country remains a sore point. Several hundred leftist demonstrators protested on Saturday against the planned celebrations in Berlin. And a new poll of over 1000 Germans carried out for a German newspaper showed one in eight wanted the Wall rebuilt - with the numbers nearly equal in East and West.
Pivotal figures from the era that ushered in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, such as ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Lech Walesa, who led anti-communist protests in Poland at the head of the Solidarity trade union, will take part in commemorative events around the once-divided capital on Monday.
Joining them will be U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
It was on June 12, 1987 that former President Ronald Regan uttered those famous words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Here's a short documentary on the history of the Berlin wall.
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