Members of German activist art collective, the Centre for Political Beauty, have claimed responsibility for the theft of seven white crosses erected in Berlin in memory of the victims who died attempting to flee communist East Germany, Art Daily reported. The group says it plans to reposition the crosses along the EU border to protest against the EU’s immigration policy on asylum seekers.

Phillip Ruch, a spokesperson for the group, has indicated that the group plans to affix the crosses along portions of the border in Bulgaria and in the North African Spanish settlement of Melilla. He added that as Germany prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall on Sunday, members of Centre for Political Beauty will travel to a secret location to destroy sections of the border.

The crosses, taken from the memorial, repositioned at an unknown part of the EU border.
Photo: Political Beauty

According to Amnesty International, the European Union has spent €2 billion ($2.5 billion) on fortifying its borders against illegal immigrants. That’s in contrast to the €700 million ($887 million) spent on aid for asylum seekers.

A statement on the artist group’s website declared, “While balloons will rise into the air and nostalgic, sedative speeches will be held, German civil society will in an act of political beauty bring down the European external walls.” The statement emphasized that “The European curtain must fall.”

Statistics from the UN High Commission for Refugees say that 2,500 African migrants have drowned or gone missing whilst trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean this year alone.