Berlin airport has a bit of a problem

Workers at Berlin Brandenberg airport are unable to turn off the lights. Picture: Berlin Brandenberg airport

BERLIN'S Brandenberg airport has a small problem.

There's no way to turn off the lights in the brand new building.

Technical director Horst Amann told German news service Spiegel.de: "We haven't progressed far enough with our lighting system that we can control it."

Sky News reported that the cost of the project has doubled original estimates, now standing at $5.45 billion.

Yes, although they have spent $5.45 billion on the building there is no way to turn off the lights. No light switches at all.

The construction site that will eventually become the Berlin International Airport was originally scheduled to begin operations in October 2011. Since work started construction shortcomings, design errors and technical glitches have been found.

No opening date has been set and project directors are refusing to even estimate when it may open.

"I will only name a date when I can take responsibility for it," Mr Amann said.

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Don't tear down wall: Berlin protesters

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

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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