BERLIN: East German Police yesterday hurled four teargas bombs at jeering crowds of West Berliners around the Brandenburg Gate. But the wind blew the gas back in their own eyes. The East Germans also fired a warning shot at a West Berlin policeman near the border. The policeman was not hit.

West Berlin Police, afraid the crowds might provoke full-scale violence, barred the main street to the Brandenburg Gate. But West Berliners continued to slip through the nearby Tiergarten Park to the border.

After these incidents, the East German government announced the “temporary” closing of the Brandenburg Gate, which is the chief crossing point between East and West Berlin. It also announced that it has ordered its police to “riposte immediately” against West Berliners who attempt to hamper the activities of the police at the “frontiers” between East and West Berlin.

The East German Interior Ministry issued a communiqué ‘advising’ West Berliners not to come within less than 100 meters from the Eastern security forces at the border. The East German regime also broke off all telephone and teletype connections with West Germany.

Begum Liaquat hospitalised

ROME: Begum Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan Ambassador to Italy, who had an attack of cerebral thrombosis last week, is now better. She may be able to leave hospital this week, her personal assistant said yesterday. — Agencies