Embassy Harbors E. German Refugees

PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia--A West German diplomat rescued an East German grabbed by a police officer yesterday as he tried to scale a fence into Bonn's mission. However, most Czechoslovak police relaxed their controls, letting hundreds more refugees enter the compound as a new diplomatic dispute built up over the issue.

East German refugees inside the embassy said they numbered more than 2000 by late yesterday and more than 100 additional refugees were arriving hourly.

In a formal protest delivered to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's office, East German envoy Horst Neubauer said his government demanded that the new refugees be "turned out of the embassy and returned to East Germany."

The latest rush came after 7000 East Germans were allowed to leave West German embassies in Prague and Warsaw over the weekend for West Germany.

More than 32,000 East Germans have arrived in West Germany since September 10, when Hungary opened its western border with Austria and the numbers of refugees occupying Bonn's embassies swelled.

Yesterday, both East Germany and Czechoslovakia accused West Germany of breaking its word by harboring new refugees, going back on conditions it agreed to in gaining release of the earlier refugee throng.

Kohl spokesperson Hans Klein denied any such agreement. And Peter Rothen, a spokesperson for the Bonn Foreign Ministry, insisted West Germany "never told the East Germans it would stop taking in East Germans seeking refuge."

West German officials said they would press East Berlin to let the new arrivals leave for the West.

Czechosolovak police continued patrols outside the embassy yesterday but relaxed controls on pedestrians and drivers, witnesses reported.

Also yesterday, nearly 10,000 people marched through Leipzig, East Germany, demanding legalization of opposition groups and adoption of democratic reforms. It was the largest mass opposition demonstration since 1953, when workers rose throughout East Germany in an ill-fated uprising later crushed by Soviet tanks.

In Warsaw, Poland, an estimated 100 to 200 refugees had arrived at the West German Embassy. About 800 left the embassy Sunday for West Germany.

Bonn officals said Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze was instrumental in winning the release of East German refugees and that Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was in touch with Bonn on the matter.

East German opposition groups criticized theirgovernment's approval of the exodus, declaring ina statement that East Germany was "losing avillage every day." It said reforms were the only"reasonable" solution.

More than 120,000 East Germans have reachedWest Germany so far this year, including those wholeft legally and illegally.

Police at the embassy in Prague werealternately harsh and lenient.

An East German man about 30 years old was seenclimbing the fence to the embassy. A policeofficer hung on, exerting all his weight to bringthe climber down. Refugees inside the fence clungto the man and shouted for help.

A diplomat ran outside the fence and put hisarm around the refugee.

They walked away, ringed by police andreporters. A police officer pointed to an EastGerman handcuffed to a park bench. The diplomatarranged for the East German to be freed, then ledboth men into the embassy.

Refugees said Czechoslovak officers patrolledthe embassy area with dogs during the night, A26-year-old woman said she, her child and herhusband were dragged away from the embassy fenceduring the night, kicked and beaten by police.

Later, she said, three other police officershelped the family and showed them the way to themission's entrance, where they and others wereadmitted.

Some refugees said East Germans caught bypolice were detained, then released elsewhere.

Inside the embassy garden, studded with tentsthat sheltered those who left over the weekend,refugees got assistance for newcomers and helpedothers over the fence, witnesses reported.

More East Germans, however, were reportedcrossing the border from Czechoslovakia tocommunist Hungary and entering Austria fromHungary.

Hungary's official news agency, MTI, said 2880people entered Hungary from Czechoslovakia overthe weekend, most of them East Germans. It said 24people swam the Danube between Rajka and Esztergomto cross into Austria.

Newly arrived East Germans at the Giessen, WestGermany, refugee reception center said yesterdaythey had been prepared to stay indefinitely inBonn's mud-filled embassy in Prague rather thanreturn home.

"I would have never gone back to East Germany,this was it," said Heinz Schmidt, a railway workerfrom Magdeburg who spent eight days in a tent withhis wife and teen-age son.

He said the family never applied for permissionto emigrate legally because they were certainharassment would follow.

"You can lose your job... Once you apply, youwill be interrogated by the security police, andsoon you can drop out of sight," Schmidt said.

Lutz Gillert said he was demoted from chiefdoctor in a hospital near Magdeburg after applyingto leave five years ago and his son was rejectedwhen he tried to enter a university