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Luxemburg and Liebknecht honored in Berlin

Guzman | 12.01.2003 20:31

AP and AFP. 12 January 2003. Thousands throng east Berlin streets to honor founders of German Communist Party. (article 1)

Luxemburg and Liebknecht honored in Berlin
Luxemburg and Liebknecht honored in Berlin

Luxemburg and Liebknecht honored in Berlin
Luxemburg and Liebknecht honored in Berlin


BERLIN -- At least 10,000 people turned out Sunday to commemorate the German communists Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who were killed by soldiers during a socialist uprising in January 1919, police said.

Many of the demonstrators waved banners or placards against military action in Iraq, as well as Che Guevara flags, as they followed the head of the PDS, Gabi Zimmerman to the Friedrichsfelde cemetery, where flowers were laid in honor of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

Under the East German regime, their deaths were marked with annual commemorations. The ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism revived the event, which regularly draws thousands, in 1992.

Also Sunday, a PDS member of the European Parliament, Andre Brie, announced plans to visit Iraq next week to get what he called a first-hand look at the situation there.

Brie plans to visit sites already controlled by the U.N. weapons inspectors and speak with representatives of international aid organizations about the impact of the embargo on the country and its people.

Guzman