Meanwhile, In East Berlin

Six days before Ronald Reagan made his speech near the Brandenburg Gate, a different set of Western emissaries did star turns in the same location. British Rock Star David Bowie, Eurythmics and Genesis performed on successive nights in front of the Reichstag building, home of the former German parliament, before more than 60,000 pop-music fans. Some 350 yards away on the other side of the Berlin Wall, crowds of young people clashed with East German riot police who prevented them from getting close enough to hear the music. When police chased them with nightsticks, angry rock fans pelted them with bottles and chanted, "The Wall must go." In the apparent hope that the Soviet campaign for glasnost will allow them more freedom, they also shouted, "We want Gorbachev!"

The concerts coincided with the celebrations of Berlin's 750th anniversary, and the bands, amplified by loudspeakers, could be heard on both sides of the Wall. On the second night 3,000 young East Germans gathered to listen to the music from the West. A police line blocked them from approaching the border fortifications, and as the crowd began to chant and jeer, the police charged, dragging dozens of young people to security vans.

Again the next night a thick cordon of police prevented youths from approaching the Wall. Security forces clubbed them to the ground and pulled them by their hair into nearby vans. Onstage in West Berlin, Genesis Singer Phil Collins sent his greetings to "all Berliners, East and West." Pointing to the Wall, Collins said, "When something happens to the people over there, ) it is that thing's fault. That ((Wall)) is to blame."