EAST BERLIN: East Germany on Thursday declared the end of restrictions on emigration or travel to the West, and within hours thousands of East Germans swarmed across the Berlin wall in a mass celebration of their newly won freedom.
Giving way to a swelling flight through temporary cracks in the border through Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland, the East German leadership announced Permission to travel or emigrate would be granted quickly and without conditions, the leader ship said East Germans would be allowed to move through any crossing into West Germany or West Berlin, including through the wall.
A tentative trickle of East Germans testing the new regulations quickly turned into a swarm of ecstatic people, who were met in the middle of the crossing by crowds of flag waving, cheering West Germans. Some West Berliners came in cars and offered to take those from the East on a tour, and others clambered on top of the wall, unbothered by border guards.
By 1 AM. Today, celebrating Berliners, East and West, had filled the celebrated Kurfustendamm, blowing on trumpets, dancing, singing and absorbing a glittering scene they had only glimpsed before on television.
Cars backed up for Mile
East Berliners said cars were backed up for more than a mile on the eastern side of some border crossings, as East Berliners abandoned their cars fora quick taste of the West on foot.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 17, 1989
