In an historic announcement which rendered the Berlin Wall irrelevant, East Germany declared last night that its citizens could leave the country at all crossing points through the Wall and over the 1,000-mile border with West Germany.

Herr Gunter Schabowski, the Politburo member responsible for the media, said that the new ruling came into effect immediately 43 years after Winston Churchill proclaimed, in a speech in Fulton, Missouri, that an ``Iron Curtain'' had descended across Europe.

Herr Schabowski also promised ``free democratic and secret elections'' and admitted for the first time that East Germany was ``a pluralist society in which there are a variety of interests which we did not previously recognize''.

As a first step the prohibition on the New Forum opposition group was lifted yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior.

In a startling acceleration of previous travel proposals, Herr Schabowski announced that all citizens could now be issued with visas for purposes of travel or visiting relatives in the West. But the Wall would stay as a ``reinforced state border'', he said.

Later, East German radio reported that exit visas would be issued from 8 am today, ending unchecked crossings through the Berlin Wall.

Within hours of yesterday's announcement the centre of Berlin took on a festive air with thousands moving back and forwards through the previously formidable barrier.

The first East German couple to test the new ruling strolled across the border at the Bonnholmerstrasse crossing at 9.25pm. Guards allowed them to cross without a visa and reassured them that they could return later.

There was evident confusion about the new regulations. At the Invalidenstrasse crossing point guards turned people away, telling them to collect a stamp from their local police station first.

East German television stations were inundated with calls from viewers stunned by the announcement and anxious to hear it repeated. A flustered announcer had to interrupt programmes several times to repeat the news.

The relaxation also applies to would-be emigrants who will now be given exit visas to cross at any point on the German border and from East into West Berlin ``without delay'', the statement said.

More than 200,000 have left East Germany so far this year, about half of them legally. West German officials estimate that between 1.2 million and 1.4 million East Germans have applied to leave. West Germany is prepared to take all those coming across the border, the Interior Ministry said last night.