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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Protesters call MP Wilders a racist

Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski Source: Herald Sun

PROTESTERS have pushed people to the ground as they tried to stop a Melbourne speech by controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

A group of about 40 protesters blocked the gate leading into the Somerton function centre and were seen physically stopping people from entering, even pushing some people to the ground, as they chanted.

A large number of police, including mounted police, were on scene but have made no attempts to move them on.

Mr Wilders is due to give a speech at the venue as the first part of his Australian tour.

The right-wing MP wants a ban on Islamic immigration and says the religion is incompatible with freedom, but he insists he's not trying to incite violence or insult people during his Australian visit.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders says Australia should not be scared of him.

The protesters say Mr Wilders is a racist.

Organisers had tried to keep the venue for the speech a secret to avoid protests.

Earlier, speaking in Melbourne at his first Australian press conference amid tight security, Mr Wilders said Islam could not integrate into western societies.

"Islam is totalitarianism ... Islam and freedom are incompatible," he said.

Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Despite threats of protests, no demonstrators attended the press conference, which was held in the outer western suburbs.

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About a dozen security guards were present, including personnel from the Netherlands.

Mr Wilders said mass migration from Islamic countries to Western nations should be stopped, except for certain humanitarian cases.

Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

"If a homosexual who is taken to jail or threatened to be killed in Iran or a Christian that is mistreated in so many countries today in the Middle East ... when it comes to asylum seekers it's a different story,'' he said.

Mr Wilders said he wasn’t in the business of insulting people or inciting hatred, but he made derogatory remarks about the prophet Mohammed .

"We have to be able to talk in a free society about the character of Mohammed," he said.

"Mohammed  was a warlord, a terrorist, a paedophile, and I would not say that if not today 1.5 billion people believe that Mohammed is the best example to follow.

Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“It would be totally ridiculous to suggest that they are all following the example, but in the ideology the Koran is the word of God and the life of Mohammed ... is the person that they should copy, that they should try to follow.”

Mr Wilders said that those stopped from migrating from countries such as Lebanon would include Christians.

But an organiser of the MP's visit, Andrew Horwood from the Q Society, interjected to say that the situation in the Netherlands was different to Australia.

"We don't have a policy of stopping people coming to this country, we welcome people coming to this country, we ask them to obey our laws,'' Mr Horwood said.

"What's happening in the Netherlands can be different, we're just hearing from some of the experiences, we're not asking that they all happen here.''

Louise O’Shea, spokeswoman for groups opposing Mr Wilders, had earlier warned that protesters would picket tonight’s meeting.

"We want to make sure that anti-racist voices are heard, and that it is clear to people affected by racism and to those who oppose it here and around the world that there is strong opposition to Wilders' message of hate," she said.

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