Photo Gallery Remembering Leipzig's 'Monday Demonstrations'
The series of peaceful political protests in the former East Germany known as the "Monday demonstrations" started in Leipzig on Sept. 4, 1989. Soon the show of strength against the ruling SED Communist Party became a routine event across the country every Monday evening. The right to travel to the West was one of the key issues: At this demonstration on Sept. 4, 1989 young protesters carry a banner calling for "freedom to travel instead of mass exodus."
In this photograph from the Sept. 4 demonstration, protesters raise their hands in a victory sign. At the time few people on either side of Germany's internal border imagined the Berlin Wall was about to fall.
Leipzig's Nikolai Church was the focal point of the Monday demonstrations. The first protest on Sept. 4, 1989 began after prayers for peace at the church. Here, two members of the East German secret police, the Stasi (on the right), take away a banner carried by young East Germans during one of the Leipzig demonstrations.
A tram is blocked by East German demonstrators in the center of Leipzig on Oct, 17, 1989. Their banner reads: "Legalization of opposition parties, free democratic elections, free press and independent unions."
A demonstration on Oct. 24 saw 300,000 people take to the streets of the city. The growing pressure on the regime caused by the sheer number of demonstrators helped lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989.
This protest, held just over a week after the Berlin Wall was opened, saw some 50,000 people take to the streets to call for the end of the dominance of the communist regime, which was still technically in power. The slogan "We Are the People," which was chanted at the Monday demonstrations, has now became emblematic of the protest movement and the end of communist rule in East Germany.
