If you Like Your Freedoms, Thank a Protestor

Why not thank them both?

Soldiers have proven invaluable in securing our freedoms from foreign sources; protestors have proven invaluable in securing our freedoms from ourselves.

Cycloptichorn

Want to thank a protester? Fine, but don't think they actually accomplish anything or have anything but their own personal self interest at heart. Never seen a more selfish lot.

Fine, but don't think they actually accomplish anything or have anything but their own personal self interest at heart.

In some parts of the world, protesters finally achieved what soldiers didn't....

I'd like to give it to "the people" but they had nothing to do with it.

Mass demonstrations against the East German regime began in late 1989, most prominently the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. Faced with civil unrest, East German leader Erich Honecker was forced to resign on October 18, 1989. More resignations followed when the entire East German cabinet stepped down on November 7. The travel restrictions for East Germans were subsequently removed by the new government on November 9, 1989, and many people immediately went to the Wall where the border guards opened access points and allowed them through. Emboldened, many Germans on both sides began to tear down sections of the Wall itself, leading to one of the most enduring news stories of the 20th century.

On March 18, 1990 the first and only free elections in the history of the GDR were held, producing a government whose major mandate was to negotiate an end to itself and its state.

The 1989/1990 Monday demonstrations in the East German city of Leipzig were a series of peaceful political protests against the East German government.

The demonstrations began after prayers for peace in the Nikolai Church with parson Christian Führer. Safe in the knowledge that the church supported their stance, many East German citizens who wanted to leave the country joined in the court of the church, and non-violent demonstrations began in order to obtain rights like the freedom to travel to foreign countries and to elect a democratic government. By October 1989, more than 250,000 people had joined the demonstrations.

The most famous chant became Wir sind das Volk! - We are the people. Although the possibility of military intervention was threatened, the ruling SED ultimately refrained from any such action. The demonstrations eventually ended in March 1990, around the time of the elections that led to German reunification.

How did the protesters open the Berlin Wall?

Do you really think protesters were the overwhelming reason that wall came down?