East German Police Enter West Berlin

Press, Volume C, Issue 29609, 4 September 1961, Page 9

East German Police Enter West Berlin

(At JLP-A.-Reuter—Cowrtcnr;

BERLIN, September 2. East German police invaded the French sector of Berlin yesterday in an effort to shoot down a 17-year-old refugee, West Berlin police reported.

The young men, seeking to escape from the Soviet rr-ne, swam across the Havl river, but was stopped by border police before he reached West Berlin, the Associated Press said. He tore himself from the police, and threw h unseif over the barbed wire into the French sector of West Berlin.

West Berlin police said Communist police followed the refugee 80 yards into West Berlin, firing at him. The refugee finally reached a small lake where a group

trf West Berlin police spotted him. They ordered the East German police to leave West Berlin immediately, and the East Germans withdrew beyond the barbed wire. Armed Forces The East German Communist leader (Mr Walter Ulbricht) said yesterday that many members of the East German armed forces due for release had agreed to serve longer “in the interests of securing peace,” Reuters reported. Mr Ulbricht called on the East German forces to improve their training “to assure high battle readiness” with all Socialist armies, “particularly with the Soviet forces.” The second Soviet astronaut, Major Gherman Titov, arrived in East Berlin by air from Moscow yesterday on a four-dey visit to East Germany. He was greeted at East Berlin’s Schoenefeld airport by Mr Ulbricht and a crowd of several thousand. The Associated Press said East Germany was chosen for Titov’s first foreign tour in an evident effort to boost morale after the shock of the military action to close the border with the West on Auvust 13.

The East Berlin City Council said yesterday it would issue special passes to West Berliners working in East Berlin so they can more easily cross the border. The West Berlin employers of West Berliners were instructed to apply for the passes, which will be issued from tomorrow.