As son Karl Marx turns 200, Germany as divided as ever

TRIER (Germany): Germany marked the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth on Saturday, but celebrations risked being marred by protests as the revolutionary philosopher remains a divisive figure almost three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Marx's birth city of Trier led commemorations of the man officials describe as a "great son of the city", with 600 events planned around the 19th-century scholar hailed for foretelling the ills of capitalism.

The centrepiece of the festivities will be the unveiling of a 5.5-metre (18-foot) tall statue of the philosopher -- a gift from communist China -- with dignitaries including a Chinese delegation and the head of Germany's Social Democratic Party to attend.

But it is also before the statue that the association representing victims of communism have called protests against the thinker they blame for inspiring Stalinist regimes.

"We want to protest loudly against the unveiling of the Marx statue and raise our voices against the glorification of Marxism," said Dieter Dombrowski, president of the Union of the Victim Groups of Communist Tyranny.

For Dombrowski, Trier's decision to accept the gift from China is "disrespectful and inhuman" to those who suffered under communist regimes. Far-right party AFD, which enjoys strong support in former East German states, has meanwhile separately called a silent march with the theme "Get Marx off the pedestal" through Trier's city centre.