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03/29/2024 07:15:34 am

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German Home Town Accepts Karl Marx Statute from China Amid Protests

German Home Town accepts Karl Marx Statute from China.

(Photo : Getty Images. ) Trier, the German home town of revolutionary thinker Karl Marx, has officially agreed to accept the statute of the famous socialist thinker from China.

The German home town of Karl Marx has officially agreed to accept the statute of the famous socialist thinker from China amid widespread public protests. The statute will be given as a gift from China to mark the revolutionary thinker's 200th birth anniversary next year.

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The Trier's city council on Monday voted in favour to accept the 21-foot bronze statue of Karl Marx from China, which today is one of the few communist countries in the world. The decision was reached following months of intense deliberation, after China announced its decision to the gift the statute.

But the decision has attracted sharp criticisms from large numbers of local citizens and politicians. The protestors claim that China's controversial track record on human rights make acceptance of this gift unethical.

"We could draw up a long list of human rights violations," Tobias Schneider, said a politician for the Free Democratic Party in Trier. "Do we want to allow such a rogue regime to set up a statue of Karl Marx in the heart of our city?"

There have been similar such protests from other high profile local politicians, who have either written to the council or voiced their protest publicly over Karl Marx statute fiasco. There has been even reportedly murmur of protests among local citizens over the issue.

But Trier's Mayor Mr. Wolfram Leibe has shrugged off these protests by saying that there is no question of glorifying or overlooking China's actions. "Those times are over," he added. The head of Trier's town planning department, Andreas Ludwig, also came out in support of Wolfram's stance.

"That the largest country on Earth has thought about the small town of Trier is great. 150,000 Chinese tourists come every year to Trier - and that could rise even more," he said.

Karl MARX was born on May 5, 1818 in Germany's small town of Trier. He lived in this small town until age of 17, after which he moved to university of Bonn to pursue higher studies. Although very little is known about Marx's childhood life in Trier, but his early childhood influences in this small town are believed to be among huge influencing factors in shaping his communist ideology. 

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