Word: leipzigers
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Official media said about 300,000 people rallied in Leipzig, a city of 650,000; at least 50,000 in Halle; 40,000 in Schwerin; more than 20,000 in Karl Marx Stadt; and 5000 in Poessneck...
...connections with the Stasi, or secret police. Few citizens seem persuaded that Krenz had a true change of heart when he ordered police forces to stand back during the demonstrations that continue to spread like a brush fire, last week drawing 100,000 people into the streets of Leipzig. Many point instead to his comments on recent trips to China and West Germany, during which he expressed support for the Beijing leadership's crackdown on the pro-democracy movement...
...movement's strength is its links to the Protestant Church, which is attended by more than 40% of East Germany's 16 million citizens. Since the 1970s, it has provided a forum for human-rights and peace advocates. Last week churches in East Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden became the gathering points for demonstrators and the refuges for protesters when they met up with truncheon- swinging riot police...
Some local party officials have shown sympathy for the dissidents' cause. In Leipzig, where New Forum brought up to 70,000 people into the streets last Monday, three party secretaries signed a declaration promoting a more open dialogue. In Dresden party functionaries met with 20 opposition representatives. Encouraging as these moves may be, there is always the possibility of a reversal. If the state decides to clamp down, it is hard to predict whether the opposition forces will turn out to be marathoners, like the Poles, or easily winded sprinters, like the Panamanians...
Christoph Wonneberger, the pastor of St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Leipzig, told West Germany's ZDF television that more than 120,000 people participated in the three-hour march...