25 September 1988 · Over the wall · Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag
Two young men run through the Brandenburg Gate and stop at a warning shot
On the evening of 25 September 1988 two young East Berliners ran through the Brandenburg Gate towards the West; they stopped when a guard fired a warning shot and were led away.
On the evening of Sunday 25 September 1988 two young men from East Berlin tried to escape at the Brandenburg Gate. According to tourists, whose accounts the West Berlin police passed on the next day, the two ran through the Gate.
They stopped after GDR guards fired a warning shot. The police said they then let themselves be led away. A later report said the guards had cornered them in the restricted area and that several eyewitnesses saw it.
The Allied commandants, the Senate and the federal government condemned the shot as a 'flagrant violation of human rights'. Three days later shots were apparently fired again, when two young East Berliners got over the Wall at Bethaniendamm in Kreuzberg.
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