MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
“Nothing and no one can stand in the way of freedom” says Berlin mayor
“We're the happiest people in the world and we're thrilled that you brought the Berlin Wall down 25 years ago,” Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit said 
A spectacular 15 kilometer-long string of 7,000 illuminated helium balloons traced the course of the barrier that once snaked through the city More than a million Germans and people from around the world celebrated on Sunday the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that more than any other marked the end of the Cold War.
A spectacular 15 kilometer-long string of 7,000 illuminated helium balloons traced the course of the barrier that once snaked through the city, slicing across streets, between families and even through graveyards.
They were set free one after another into the night sky, symbolizing the breaching of the Wall by crowds of protesters in 1989. The Berlin Staatskapelle orchestra played Beethoven's 9th Symphony “Ode to Joy” in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
“We're the happiest people in the world and we're thrilled that you brought the Berlin Wall down 25 years ago,” Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit said as the first balloons were sent aloft. “Nothing and no one can stand in the way of freedom.”
Germans, whose national pride was shattered by Nazism, the Second World War and the Holocaust, have proudly focused on the peaceful East German revolution that felled the Wall as a rare and bright shining moment in their modern history.
Festivities to mark the anniversary drew more than one million Berliners and tourists to the heart of the once-divided city. Earlier, Peter Gabriel played a powerful rendition of “Heroes” and several German artists performed on stage as well.
Despite the fog and cold, many wandered along the former “death strip” where the Wall stood and where the illuminated helium balloons forming the “Lichtgrenze”, or Border of Light, were perched 3.6 meters high on poles matching the height of the barrier built in 1961 by Communist East Germany.
The crowd also cheered when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, widely admired in Germany for his role in paving the way for the Wall's collapse, stood and waved. He ominously warned in a speech in Berlin on Saturday that a new Cold War was looming over the Ukraine crisis.
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Read all commentsThis is the greatest thing that happened in my lifetime.
Nov 10th, 2014 - 12:19 pm 0I was in Hong Kong when it actually happened - at 3 a.m. in the morning it came through as live feed on BBC World Service.
We uni reps were astounded, and we aggregated in the main lounge. Everybody debated and gradually reached an understanding of its importance in world affairs and their possible futures.
This was the collapse of one of the world's great hegemonies ,
the end of the Cold War,
and the period of greatest fear since the Cuban Missile Crisis - destabilisation and the free sale of fissionable materials and missiles.
That we have survived is as much down to luck as it is to good management.
Take note Argies“ nothing and no-one can stand in the way of freedom” And so say all of us, and so say all of us, for he's a jolly good fellow and so says all of us. Suck it up Argies.
Nov 10th, 2014 - 02:26 pm 0“Nothing and no one can stand in the way of freedom” says Berlin mayor
Nov 10th, 2014 - 07:03 pm 0Manuel Barroso / Herman Van Rompuy / Jean-Claude Juncker would do well to heed these words.
UKIP is coming for you Camer-moron. You and your little b*tch Nick Clegg. Next year you will truly learn the meaning of the phrase “people power”
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