WEST BERLIN — Apparently bowing to Soviet pressure, East Germany on Wednesday abruptly canceled its invitation to the mayor of West Berlin to attend a ceremony marking Berlin's 750th anniversary.
Wolfgang Meyer, a spokesman for the East German Foreign Ministry, said Mayor Eberhard Diepgen would not be welcome at a state ceremony in East Berlin on Oct. 23 because of his "slanderous attacks" on East Germany last week at a West Berlin anniversary ceremony.
Diepgen said in his speech that East Germany should stop shooting at refugees trying to escape over the Berlin Wall.
