Photo Gallery Preserving the Berlin Wall
A 1.3-kilometer (0.8-mile) stretch of the Berlin Wall, the world's longest open-air art gallery, was decorated by 118 artists from 21 countries in 1990.
Some of the murals have become iconic, such as this image of an East German Trabi car painted by artist Birgit Kinder.
The East Side Gallery is one of Berlin's biggest tourist attractions.
"My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love" -- which shows Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German head Erich Honecker in a fraternal embrace -- was painted by Dmitri Vrubel and became one of the best-known of the East Side Gallery's murals.
After scuffles with protesters, police stood guard at the East Side Gallery. An estimated 400 protesters blocked a construction comapny from removing a section of the Wall on Friday. A real estate developer is planning to build a 14-storey apartment building between the East Side Gallery and the Spree River, and needs to remove the Wall section in order to allow access to the construction site.
Critics, including East Side Gallery mural artists and opponents of the River Spree embankment development, are outraged by the development project, citing the importance of the East Side Gallery's status as a protected landmark and a major tourist attraction.
The new development at the heart of the controversy is called "Living Levels." Protests against construction along the River Spree have been ongoing in Berlin in recent years.
As news of the planned dismantling spread, activists and artists who helped decorate this remaining part of the Cold War relic known as the East Side Gallery came to protest. By midday on Friday, police had called a halt to the construction crew's work.
Five demonstrators were reportedly arrested in Friday's protests.
On Friday morning, cranes began removing part of the East Side Gallery. They only removed one 1.5-meter (5-foot) section before their work was halted.
German police struggled with protestors protecting a part of the former Berlin Wall on Friday. Around 100 police were deployed to deal with the demonstrators.
On Friday, one protester carried a sign asking "Does culture no longer have any value?" Below, in smaller letters, it read: "Die Yuppie Scum!" Many in Berlin believe the city authorities are selling out to private investors.
Police removed a piece of fake concrete used by protesters to fill out a gap during the removal of a section of the East Side Gallery.
Antje Kapek, a trained urban planner and politician with the local Green Party, blamed the city government. "It is ignoring the historical, cultural and tourist significance of this gallery and memorial," she told the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel.
