Month-long reunification celebrations start in Berlin

       Gigantic puppets starred at celebrations marking the 19th anniversary of German unification in Berlin on Saturday as tens of thousands watched the mechanical marionettes on their walk through the city.
       At the capital's landmark Brandenburg Gate, for 45 years the border between communist east and capitalist west, a 5m little girl giant from the east reunited with a 15m giant "relative" from the west as on-lookers cheered.
       The two puppets, part of a show designed by artists and technicians of French troupe Royal de Luxe, hugged and kissed after a walkabout of several kilometres through the once divided city.
       Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany's first head of government to grow up in East Germany, hailed East Germans'determination to bring down the communist regime 20 years ago which led to German unification a year later.
       The 1.6-million (78.4 million baht)Royal de Luxe show is part of a host of celebrations in the runup to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov 9. They will peak with a party on both sides of the Brandenburg Gate on Nov 9 to which the last Soviet leader,Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as leaders from the 27-nation European Union and other countries have been invited.
       Festivals, concerts and parades across the country marked the beginning of reunification celebrations on Saturday.
       Germany was separated into Sovietaligned East Germany and Nato-allied West Germany for more than four decades until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and official reunification in 1990.
       In a speech in the southwestern city of Saarbruecken, Chancellor Merkel told a crowd of about 1,000 that German unity had not just "fallen from the sky"but was the result of years of "courage and determination". She added Germans need to keep this in mind when faced with issues like the current economic crisis or other global problems:"Freedom and responsibility go together," she said.
       Security was tight, following a series of threats by Islamic extremists that specifically mentioned Germany.