“Tear Down This Wall” concert held at U.S.-Mexico border

Record ID: 878143

  • Title: “Tear Down This Wall” concert held at U.S.-Mexico border
  • Date: 4th June 2017
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BASS GUITARIST FOR DRESDNER SINFONIKER, TOM GOTZE, SAYING: "The message is 'tear down this wall'. A pretty old slogan, but it's a truth. It's a truth, it was a truth 30 years ago and it's a truth right now. Tear it down and don't get so closed from the other people. Stay open with your mind and stay open with your borders and have an open heart like that."
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2017 16:56
  • Keywords: border wall Donald Trump Dresdner Sinfoniker U.S.-Mexico border border United States Mexico
  • Location: TIJUANA, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
  • City: TIJUANA, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026JQ4DON
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: German musicians led a "Tear Down This Wall" concert on the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday (June 3) to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.
    The Dresden based Dresdner Sinfoniker, or Dresden Symphony Orchestra, had hoped to perform on both sides of the border fence already in existence between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California, but they said they were denied a permit to perform on the U.S. side.
    The concert carried on the Mexican side of the fence which juts into the Pacific Ocean dividing Friendship Park, with Dresdner Sinfoniker performing with some local musicians.
    The concert comes 30 years after the famous June 12, 1987 speech in which then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" referring to the wall which divided West and East Berlin until its fall in 1989.
    The founder and artistic director of the Dresdner Sinfoniker, Markus Rindt, who grew up in East Germany, said their call was about more than just the physical barrier Trump has proposed, but also extends to "walls in people's minds."
    A small group of demonstrators gathered on the U.S. side of the border waving American flags and chanting "build that wall!"
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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