An art project that would have seen part of the infamous Berlin Wall rebuilt has been torn down by authorities.
Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky wanted to erect 900 concrete slabs around a Berlin city block at the site of the historic wall and set up visa checks for the "city within a city", AFP reports.
But critics said it was offensive to former residents of the city, which though situated in communist East Germany, had an enclave that was technically part of the capitalist West Germany.
Councillors also feared violence and shoddy workmanship.
"It has not been possible for the organisation to guarantee that the event would be carried out safely," said Sabine Weissler, adding that a building permit should have been sought a year ago.
Khrzhanovsky only applied for permission in August, with building set to start in October. The mini-wall would have been torn down on November 9, the anniversary of the fall of the real Berlin Wall in 1989.
Berlin was split in two, like Germany itself, based on the parts of the city Western and Soviet troops occupied at the end of World War II.
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