Chủ Nhật, 3 tháng 3, 2013

Don't tear down wall: Berlin protesters

GERMANY-HISTORY-WALL-EASTSIDEGALLERY

Police remove a piece of fake concrete used by protesters to fill out a whole during the removal of a section of the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km long remainder of the Berlin Wall, for a housing construction project. PIcture: Odd Anderson / AFP

German police next to the former Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany

A section of the Berlin Wall will be taken down to make way for a new development. Source: AAP

DETESTED for nearly three decades as a symbol of oppression, the Berlin Wall again sparked angry protests when a crane began dismantling a segment under plans for a new housing development.

About 200 demonstrators of all ages gathered in front of the Wall's longest remaining stretch, where police grimly stood between them and the barrier that once made East Berliners prisoners of their own country.

In pictures: The Berlin Wall falls again

"Berlin Is Selling Itself and Its History", "Berlin Sell-Out" read some placards, while a protester poignantly shouted "We want our Wall" - the paradox of protesting to save the Wall seems not to be lost.

Protesters say because of the pain the Wall caused - dozens died in dramatic attempts to flee the communist state of East Germany - it should be preserved and not forgotten.

Thrown up in 1961, the Wall stretched 155km and divided the city until 1989, but today only around 3km of it still stands, with the longest stretch running 1.3km, known as the East Side Gallery.

Since 1990, the outdoor gallery has been covered in brightly coloured graffiti murals, including the famous Fraternal Kiss, depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his East German counterpart Erich Honecker.

The 3.6-metre high stretch is a popular tourist magnet and a must-see for history buffs retracing the dark chapter of the division who are otherwise hard pressed to find remnants of the Wall to photograph.

Robert Muschinski, a member of an initiative to save the East Side Gallery, says it will take intervention from local politicians to stop the 22-metre segment of the Wall being torn down under a scheme to create access for a planned bridge and 14-storey housing development.


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