Berliners protest against demolition of famous East Side Gallery

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the famous East Side Gallery in Berlin on Friday (March 1) to express their outrage at the demolition of parts of the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall for planned luxury apartments and a pedestrian bridge across the river Spree.

Construction works went underway on Friday with cranes removing parts of the Wall amidst high police presence, stopping protesters from disturbing the demolition works.

Stretching over 1,3 kilometres, the East Side Gallery, marks the former border between East and West Berlin.

The Wall is covered in murals by artists from all over the world and one of the main tourist attractions of the German capital.

Donald Burke, a tourist from Canada, joined the protest on Friday. "It's a memorial, it just be like removing a section of the Holocaust memorial or the Brandenburg Gate or anything else in Berlin to build apartments. There is lots of abandoned parts of Berlin, where there is building that are falling apart or if they want to build apartments there, they could, this is just prime real estate and this is the only reason this section is getting attacked," said Burke.

Police was busy to stop protesters from coming too close to the demolition site. "We as police are in
negotiations with the people at the moment, who are against the demolition in order to free up the security zone to continue the construction works and so that no one gets into danger," explained police spokesperson Kerstin Issmer.

Protesters expressed their anger at the plans to develop luxury apartments at the popular site. "I am in
favour of keeping this part of local history alive, I am in favour of Berlin remaining Berlin. The Wall is inevitable and was always here, since 50 years in Berlin. I don't understand why we would need more high-rise building, why we would need more luxury flats, Berlin is changing for the worse, and I can not comprehend that, that's why I am here," said protester Patrik Zagjewsky  and another protester added:

"We need the Wall, it has to stay, for sure."