Security for Bush Restores Cold War Feel to Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Intense security for George W. Bush restored some of the atmosphere of the Cold War to the heart of Berlin, turning the center of the city into a virtual fortress and bringing a busy district to an eerie standstill.

About 10,000 police officers cordoned off a 14-block area around the Brandenburg Gate for the American leader, shutting down a main east-west traffic artery and leaving hundreds of businesses without customers throughout the government quarter.

A ghostly silence descended upon the normally bustling Unter den Linden boulevard that runs though the center of the city, just east of where the Berlin Wall stood until 1989.

"When this was a communist police state only diplomats and people with passes could get down this street," said Guenter Wolf, head waiter at the Dressler Restaurant on the boulevard. "It's been a bit like that again."

"Our business is being wiped out," said restaurant manager Katrin Mehls. "Usually we have several hundred customers. Today we've had two, plus a couple of dozen cops who wanted to use the toilet."

Even the Unter den Linden underground station was closed, forcing passengers to stay on board trains as they glided through the darkened station, a spooky reminder of the Cold War era when West Berlin trains passed through heavily guarded East Berlin stations without stopping.