FIRST OFF . . .

East German police moved in with electrified cattle prods Sunday to disperse a crowd of East German teen-agers gathered near the Berlin Wall to hear Michael Jackson performing on the other side. According to Western journalists’ reports on Monday, the police also harassed Western television crews and arrested almost 100 youths. About 5,000 East German fans gathered near the Brandenburg Gate in East Berlin Sunday night to try to hear the American pop star as he performed about 200 yards away in West Berlin. After members of the crowd began shouting political slogans, plainclothes security police quickly circled the crowd, dragging off some protesters by the hair, according to witnesses. Crews from the West German TV networks ARD and ZDF tried to film the crowd, but they were rushed by security men wielding electronic cattle prods, the crews said. A team from Cable News Network also was harassed by security police, said Bettina Luescher, a CNN assistant producer who was on the scene. West Germany protested the incident, with one West German official saying it had damaged relations with East Germany. The East German government rejected the protest and denied that the journalists had been mistreated.