Hundreds of protesters form a human chain, halting destruction of the Berlin Wall to make way for luxury flats.

Work was due to begin to remove a section of the former death strip to make way for luxury flats.

But hundreds of activists demanding that the historic stretch of wall be saved have managed to delay the work “until later”.

The activists gathered early on Friday morning and formed a human chain along the wall.

At around 9.45am, as a piece of the wall was raised into the air on a crane, the protesters surged forward and broke through the lines of police guarding it.

Violent scenes followed, with demonstrators claiming to be pushed by police and reports in German newspapers of several arrests.

It remains unclear whether the protesters will succeed in permanently reversing the council’s plans to demolish the monument.

More than 20m of the former divide between East and West Berlin is due to be removed to provide access to a housing development on the banks of the River Spree.

The section of wall, known as the East Side Gallery, is visited by millions of tourists every year.

The eastern side of  the 1.3km stretch was painted in 1990 and expresses artists’ hopes and fears following German reunification.

In 2006, a 40m-long section of the wall was removed to allow access to the O2 World concert arena. It was later relocated parallel to the rest of the gallery.

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