Controversial statue of Marx unveiled in his German birthplace

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The bronze sculpture, which towers over 5 metres (16 feet) high including the plinth, is a gift from China to mark Saturday’s 200th birthday of the founder of Communism.

Marx spent the first 17 years of his life in Trier, a small town on the Moselle River in Germany’s far west.

Many see the post-World War Two division of Germany and the erection of the Berlin Wall to divide the Communist east from the capitalist West as a result of his ideas, but Trier mayor Wolfram Leibe said historical controversies should be acknowledged.