usagdr@cdp.uucp (Andrew Lange) (10/28/89)
GDR OPPOSITION FIGURES, POLITBURO MEMBER MEET IN BERLIN
By Robert J. McCartney
The Washington Post, Friday, 27 October 1989, p. A22
BERLIN, Oct. 26--A member of the Communist Party's top leadership
met today for the first time with representatives of New Forum,
the nation's largest pro-democracy organization, and told them
that authorities would permit a demonstration this group is
planning here next month.
But Guenter Schabowski, a member of the ruling Politburo,
signaled that the government is not yet ready to recognize New
Forum, a loosely organized reform group that technically is
illegal but has been tolerated by the authorities. [Schabowski
is secretary of the ruling Socialist Unity Party for Berlin.]
East Germany's new leader, Egon Krenz, spoke by telephone
today with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and both
governments said they hope to improve relations between the two
Germanies after a period of very strained ties in recent months.
Thousands of demonstrators advocating democratic reform
marched peacefully in three cities tonight and Wednesday as a
wave of public protests continued despite Krenz's efforts to
persuade East Germans that he is moving to abandon some of the
government's most unpopular policies.
[The Associated Press reported that about 100,000 people in
Dresden attended a rally tonight at which speakers demanded
accelerated reform, Lutheran Church sources said. ADN, the
official East German news agency, said thousands showed up
earlier in the day for a meeting on reform sponsored by Communist
Party officials in Dresden.
[According to ADN, 15,000 people conducted a candlelight
march through downtown Erfurt, and about 5,000 demonstrated in
Gera, shouting, "Democracy, Now or Never!"]
Schabowski met for two hours with Jens Reich and Sebastian
Pflugbeil, two professors who helped found New Forum seven weeks
ago. The group claims to have obtained 100,000 signatures on
petitions endorsing its goals.
Schabowski responded to requests from New Forum for a
dialogue with authorities. Reich said afterward that he was
pleased the meeting took place, but thought Schabowski was trying
primarily "to demonstrate that he's ready to talk to everybody."
Under pressure from demonstrations that helped topple his
predecessor, Erich Honecker, on Oct. 18, Krenz has proclaimed
that the government is eager for dialogue with all citizens who
support the East German constitution.
Reich said he and Pflugbeil urged Schabowski to set up an
independent commission to investigate allegations of police
brutality against demonstrators during protests earlier this
month.
The New Forum representatives also asked that their
organization be officially recognized and have access to the
media, but Schabowski made no commitments, Reich said.
The meeting's only concrete result was Schabowski's
statement that a mass demonstration for more open media and other
democratic reforms, planned by New Forum and other groups for
Nov. 4, would receive official permission. Other demonstrations
so far have technically been illegal, although police have
refrained from interfering with them since Oct. 9. [Note from
USA/GDR DataBank: This will be the first legal opposition
demonstration in the GDR in more than 40 years.]
The two activists complained to Schabowski about widely
reported irregularities in May's nationwide elections for
municipal offices and received "positive hints" that the
government would reform election procedures, Reich said.
The ADN news agency emphasized that Schabowski had met with
two members of New Forum who lacked "a public mandate" to
represent anyone.
ADN also quoted Schabowski as saying Krenz already had dealt
in a speech Tuesday with all the issues they raised.
Following Krenz's phone conversation with Kohl, the first
since Krenz came to power, a West German spokesman said a senior
Bonn chancellery official would soon visit East Berlin and
discuss ways of improving cooperation between the two Germanies.
[From USA/GDR DataBank BBS, Washington, D.C., (202) 529-0140]
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