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Berlin Wall Demolition:Demolition work has been stopped by protesters / Europe News

Police face protesters with a banner reading 'Does culture still means anything?' 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 near the city's east railway station in Berlin on February 28, 2013. Some 25 meters of this section of the wall that mostly came down 23 years ago and marked the end of the cold war are taken away to make way for a new housing development on river Spree, a project called Living Levels. As news of this spread activists and artists that had decorated this remaining part of the cold war relic known as the east side gallery came to protest.
Police face protesters with a banner reading 'Does culture still means anything?' 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 near the city's east railway station in Berlin on February 28, 2013. Some 25 meters of this section of the wall that mostly came down 23 years ago and marked the end of the cold war are taken away to make way for a new housing development on river Spree, a project called Living Levels. As news of this spread activists and artists that had decorated this remaining part of the cold war relic known as the east side gallery came to protest.

Hundreds of protesters form a human chain, halting destruction of the Berlin Wall to make way for luxury flats.

Work was due to begin to remove a section of the former death strip to make way for luxury flats.

But hundreds of activists demanding that the historic stretch of wall be saved have managed to delay the work “until later”.

The activists gathered early on Friday morning and formed a human chain along the wall.

At around 9.45am, as a piece of the wall was raised into the air on a crane, the protesters surged forward and broke through the lines of police guarding it.

Violent scenes followed, with demonstrators claiming to be pushed by police and reports in German newspapers of several arrests.

BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 28:  Two policemen watch as a worker drives an earth mover that had just emerged from a construction site next to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest still-standing portion of the former Berlin Wall, where a new hotel is scheduled to be built on February 28, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. According to media reports the developer in charge of the project plans to remove an approximately 25-meter long piece of the Wall and transfer it elsewhere in order to allow access to the construction site. Critics, including East Side Gallery mural artists and Spree River embankment development opponents, decry the move, citing the East Side Gallery's status as a protected landmark and a majortourist attraction.
BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 28: Two policemen watch as a worker drives an earth mover that had just emerged from a construction site next to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest still-standing portion of the former Berlin Wall, where a new hotel is scheduled to be built on February 28, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. According to media reports the developer in charge of the project plans to remove an approximately 25-meter long piece of the Wall and transfer it elsewhere in order to allow access to the construction site. Critics, including East Side Gallery mural artists and Spree River embankment development opponents, decry the move, citing the East Side Gallery's status as a protected landmark and a majortourist attraction.

It remains unclear whether the protesters will succeed in permanently reversing the council’s plans to demolish the monument.

More than 20m of the former divide between East and West Berlin is due to be removed to provide access to a housing development on the banks of the River Spree.

The section of wall, known as the East Side Gallery, is visited by millions of tourists every year.

The eastern side of  the 1.3km stretch was painted in 1990 and expresses artists’ hopes and fears following German reunification.

In 2006, a 40m-long section of the wall was removed to allow access to the O2 World concert arena. It was later relocated parallel to the rest of the gallery.

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