HUNDREDS of youths last night clambered up to dance atop the Berlin Wall near the most potent symbol of the divided Germanies, the Brandenburg Gate. West Germans, carrying hammers to chip away at the surface, rushed forward to greet them.
East German border guards at times sprayed the crowd with water cannons but otherwise let the crowd revel on unchecked.
╥Open the gate! Open the gate!╙ the East Berliners shouted as the gathering grew with the news that the borders would be opened.
All along the wall, West Berliners trampled over the white demarcation line dividing the city, in effect crossing into the East.
Groups of people held aloft bottles of beer and champagne and climbed up scaffolding to get a better view of the bewildering scenes.
At the Bornholmer Strasse crossing point, a line of cars more than half a mile long piled up, with drivers tooting their horns in joy.
Border police just gave up and let everybody through without checking, and first aid teams were on hand to help some people who fainted with emotion.
╥We╒re off to the Kudamm,╙ pedestrians shouted as they whooped and cheered their way towards the crossing point like football fans flocking into a stadium. Kurfƒrstendamm is the main boulevard in the centre of West Berlin.
╥I╒m just going over to have a look,╙ one excited man said. Another added: ╥My wife is at home crying her eyes out because she has to look after the kids and can╒t come.╙
Trams rumbling towards the end station near the crossing point were packed with cheering East Berliners. Those returning towards the centre of town were as empty as ghost trains.
╥I was a little girl when the Berlin Wall was built. It was terrible,╙ recalled a woman in her early 40s at the Brandenburg Gate. ╥From now on, I will be able to visit my friends and relatives without the emotional strain and bureaucratic obstacles,╙ she said. ╥It had to come to an end.╙
A lorry driver at one of the crossing points said it was ╥a day of joy╙ for East Germans.
A 19-year-old woman whose close friend had left for the West only three weeks ago was overjoyed: ╥I can╒t believe it, it is wonderful, now I can go and visit her.╙
Meanwhile, at the Checkpoint Charlie crossing point, East German border police were stunned last night to learn that citizens could travel freely to the West.
In the 28 years since the Wall was built, some 175 East Germans have been shot dead trying to flee to the West. The precise number of casualties is unknown, however, as many were wounded and dragged back, possibly to die later.
╥People are going to read this and say ╘there must be some mistake╒,╙ said a young guard, shaken out of his normally severe bearing and talking animatedly.
╥It╒s not good,╙ another said an hour after the decision was announced. ╥We will lose our jobs.╙
Traffic was light at the famous crossing, meant for foreign travellers through the Communist-built Wall, and only a few East Germans were hanging around near the brightly lit post.
The commanding border police officer, a man of about 30, slowly and deliberately read a dispatch about the open borders from the offical news agency, ADN.
╥They (the people) will have to read this over very carefully, sometimes you have to read between the lines,╙ he said, pointing to a line saying official permission to travel was still needed.
Asked how many people might want to leave, the officer said he had heard talk in the force that two million of East Germany╒s 16 million people might pack up and move West.
He said many could turn up as early as this morning, with or without the necessary papers, and agreed the early shift would be ╥interesting╙.
