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West Berliners Stone Soviet Troop Bus

Aug. 19, 1962 - A Soviet troop bus was stoned by a screaming crowd of West Berliners today. The incident was a new manifestation of anger in West Berlin over the shooting Friday of Peter Fechter, a young refugee who was allowed to lie dying for more than an hour next to the Communist wall. The West Berlin police had held a crowd 50 yards back from the Friedrichstrasse crossing point all day. When the Soviet bus, carrying a detail of soldiers to the Soviet war memorial in the British sector, went through the concrete barriers of the East Berlin checkpoint, a roar of anger arose. The crowd surged against the West Berlin police line. As the Soviet bus approached, the crowd, whose number was estimated at 1,000, overwhelmed the police and crowded around the bus. Almost all the windows in the bus were broken. The bus speeded into the crowd, which scattered momentarily. Then the bus raced toward the war memorial two miles away, where the Soviet soldiers had the protection of British troops.

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