Parts of the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall have been torn down in a surpise move by developers to make way for a luxury building project.
A newly-installed gate at a section torn down by the developer Work crews backed by about 250 police removed four sections - each 1.2m wide - of the 1.3km long East Side Gallery before dawn.
By mid-morning the gap was covered by a wooden fence and protected by scores of police. It will make way for an access route to planned high-rise apartments along the nearby Spree River.
It follows several protests including one attended by former Baywatch and Knight Rider star David Hasselhof. Critics are angered that developers are sacrificing history for profit.
Construction workers removed a first piece of the wall earlier this month as part of a plan to make a road to a new luxury apartment complex.
A stretch of the wall near a demolished section The public outcry brought a halt to the project while local politicians and the investor said they were looking for a solution to keep the rest of the wall untouched.
But despite this, the investor Maik Uwe Hinkel decided to go ahead with the demolition.
In an emailed statement, Mr Hinkel said it was a temporary move to enable trucks to access the building site.
He said after four weeks of fruitless negotiations with city officials and owners of adjacent property he was no longer willing to wait.
A giant drill at a construction site behind the wall Kani Alavi, the head of the East Side Gallery's artists' group, said: "I can't believe they came here in the dark in such a sneaky manner. All they see is their money, they have no understanding for the historic relevance and art of this place.
"If you take these parts of the Wall away, you take away the soul of the city. This way, you make it like every other city. It's so sad," said Ivan McClostney, 32, who moved to Berlin a year ago from Ireland.
The East Side Gallery was recently restored at a cost of more than 2m euros (£1.6m) to the city.
Only 3km of the wall remains today The wall section stood on the eastern side of the elaborate border strip built by communist East Germany after it sealed off West Berlin in 1961. At the time it stretched 155km but today only 3km is left.
At least 136 people died trying to scale the wall during the Cold War until it fell in 1989.
The stretch of wall was transformed into an open-air gallery months after the opening and is now covered in colourful murals painted by about 120 artists, attracting scores of tourists.
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