DPA/Berlin
A property developer behind plans to demolish a remnant of the Berlin Wall to make way for luxury apartments said yesterday that he would carry through with the action despite protests.
“On Monday, the work continues,” Maik Uwe Hinkel told Berlin newspaper BZ. “We have the permission and think the building is good for Berlin.”
Demonstrators on Friday at the East Side Gallery – a 1.3km stretch of the Berlin Wall that features some 120 paintings by international artists – prevented a crane from removing a 22m section of what is considered to be the longest open air gallery.
Among other officials who have expressed surprise at the partial demolition have been the city’s culture minister, Andre Schmitz.
But Hinkel said plans for his Living Levels condominium project should not come as a shock, as they had been approved by the proper Berlin agencies and the city-state’s Senate.
“The current work can, therefore, not come as a surprise to the people in power in the Senate or the district administration,” he said.
Hinkel, of the Living Bauhaus investment group, said that, in addition to providing an access road to the apartments, the demolition would allow for the reconstruction of a pedestrian bridge destroyed in WWII.
Protesters plan to gather today at 2pm (1300 GMT) at the stretch of the Wall, but observers say that it appears unlikely the project could be permanently blocked.
Located in Berlin’s former Communist side along the Spree River, the East Side gallery is one of the city’s major tourist attractions, with more than 1mn people visiting it each year.
About 2.5mn euros ($3.3mn) have been spent by the Berlin authorities towards restoring the city’s second most popular attraction after the Brandenburg Gate.
Remnants of the Berlin Wall, which was largely removed following the implosion of Communism in 1989, are now hard to find in the German capital.