Berlin - Demonstrators occupied the Greek consulate in Berlin on Monday in protest at the shooting death of a 15-year-old youth by police in Athens.

A group of around 15 persons barged their way into the reception area of the building in west Berlin during the morning, embassy spokesman Pantelis Pantelouris said.

A female protester told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the protest was directed at the Greek state, which she said bore responsibility for the teenager's death.

Police said negotiations were under way with the demonstrators in the consulate.

Berlin  - Police used water cannon and made 70 arrests Saturday as they struggled to keep 700 neo-Nazis and even more leftists apart on the streets of Berlin.

The rightists had earlier announced a march through the capital's Lichtenberg district.

Mainly leftist opponents, determined not to let them pass, sat down on the road. Volleys of stones were thrown towards the neo- Nazis, who replied by hurling beer bottles in the other direction, witnesses said.

Berlin - A German warship warded off a suspected piracy attack on a German cruise ship in the Gulf of Aden, a defence ministry spokesman confirmed Friday.

The naval frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern chased off two suspicious speed boats on November 28 with three bursts of fire from a machine-gun, the spokesman said, confirming reports from Thursday.

A spokesman for Transocean Tours in Bremen, operators of the cruise ship, said the 492 passengers and crew on board the MS Astor had not noticed the incident. The ship also had not asked for help.

The suspicious boats disappeared quickly into Yemen's territorial waters, the tour operator said.

Berlin - Polar bear Knut celebrated his second birthday on Friday blissfully unaware that he might soon have to leave his home at Berlin Zoo.