Brussels, 09/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - The 27 European Union heads of state and government, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, President of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other well-known figures, such as Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachov and Lech Walesa, gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital of Berlin on Monday evening 9 November to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. “The fall of the Berlin Wall represents not only the collapse of totalitarianism in Central and Eastern Europe, but is also an impressive symbol of the reunification of Germany and the whole of Europe,” said Barroso in a press release. “Before 1989, we lived in a walled Europe, a divided Europe. There can be no freedom without solidarity and that is as true today as it was when I was part of the Solidarnosc movement,” stated Buzek, the Polish president of the European Parliament. He went on to stress that is was important to recognise “the bravery of those peaceful demonstrators who risked their lives and eventually brought down the Berlin Wall”. “We should never forget the victims and suffering caused by Communist regimes,” he emphasised. (H.B./transl.rt)