PROTESTS BY WEST

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29299, 2 September 1960, Page 11

PROTESTS BY WEST

Berlin Border Ban

ißec. 11 p.m.) BERLIN, Sept 1. The East Berlin border ban moved into its second day today amidst protests by the Western Power? an d further declarations by the East German Government Access to East Berlin would continue to be denied to people intending to use' the city to stage “provocations,” the East German Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Otto Winzer, said last night. West Germans not holding a special permit are banned from the city for five days. The restrictions are to prevent East German territory from being ‘‘misused’’ for a series of refugee meetings by expatriates from Germany’s former Eastern territories and by former prisoners of war. Both groups are meeting in West Berlin this week-end. Western commandants in Berlin yesterday protested to their Soviet counterpart. In Washington, the State Department declared that responsibility for free access to Berlin rested with the Soviet Union. This declaration was rejected by Mr Winzer. “It is well known that the Soviet Union has handed over all its responsibilities and competences to German organs and recognised the full sovereignty of the German Democratic Republic,” he said. In Bonn, the West German Government Cabinet described the East German move as illegal.