Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Berlin police: Car hits chancellery gate, little damage

Berlin police say a car crashed into the front gate of the German chancellery building housing Angela Merkel’s offices on Wednesday morning but appears to have caused little damage

Via AP news wire
Wednesday 25 November 2020 05:03 EST
Germany Chancellery Crash
Germany Chancellery Crash ((c) Copyright 2020, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Berlin police say a car crashed into the front gate of the German chancellery building housing Angela Merkel s offices on Wednesday morning but appears to have caused little damage.

Spokesman Hartmut Paeth said police are on the scene investigating the incident but had no details about injuries or arrests.

Rescue crews on the scene confirmed the man driving the car was being treated in an ambulance that remained in front of the chancellery.

The car, a Volkswagen sedan, had the slogan “You damned murderers of children and old people” scrawled in white paint on one side. On the other it said “stop the globalization policies.”

It had license plates from the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Lippe and was driven away by the Berlin fire department showing little sign of damage beyond a few scratches. The metal gate to the chancellery appeared slightly bent.

There was no immediate indication of what prompted the incident, but it came on the day that Merkel was to meet with state governors to talk about extending a partial coronavirus shutdown that started on Nov. 2.

The government's approach toward slowing the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions enjoy widespread support among most Germans but they have also prompted occasionally violent protests in some major cities.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in