‘The Wall Must Go,’ E. Germans Shout as Westerners Set Fires
WEST BERLIN — Protesters in West Berlin set fires on parts of the Berlin Wall today as about 30 young people on the East German side shouted, “The wall must go!”
The West Berlin youths poured flammable liquid on the wall at two locations near the Brandenburg Gate and set the fires.
When East German firefighters and border guards arrived to put out the flames, the West German youths threw rocks and chunks of wood at them and yelled slogans condemning the wall. West Berlin authorities arrested one protester.
At about the same time, police said, 30 to 40 young people gathered at the wall opposite the Brandenburg Gate in East Berlin and shouted, “The wall must go!” and “Freedom lives!”
Today is German Unity Day, which marks the failed East German workers’ uprising against communist rule June 17, 1953.
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