13 Arrested During Berlin Wall Protest
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WEST BERLIN — Police arrested about 12 of the 300 protesters who rallied in East Berlin on the 26th anniversary of the Berlin Wall shouting “The wall must go,” witnesses in West Berlin said Friday.
Hours after Thursday night’s protest, a young man ran up to the western side of the wall, doused it with a flammable liquid and set a 12-foot-square section ablaze. He was taken into custody by West Berlin police.
East Germany began constructing the wall, which divides the former German capital into Communist and capitalist sectors, on Aug. 13, 1961, to halt emigration to the West.
East German officials made no official statements on the protest near the Brandenburg Gate, the monument in East Berlin just beyond the Berlin Wall.
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