Car crashes into the doors of Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin

A car with slogans scrawled on the sides crashed into the door of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin this morning.

The words “damned children and murderers old men” were painted in white paint on one side of the gray family car, while “stop globalization policy” was written on the other side.

A man in a wheelchair was photographed being carried off the scene by police and firefighters.

Berlin police said on Twitter that they have detained the driver and are investigating whether the door was intentionally slammed.

Ms Merkel was scheduled to host a video conference of German prime ministers of state on Wednesday morning, which will discuss an extension of the lockdown and other steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Dozens of police officers and a fire truck were at the scene.

German press reports said the car is registered in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Berlin fire department chased him away and showed little sign of damage. The metal door of the Chancellery looked slightly bent.

The chancellery office, a white postmodern structure located across from a plaza in the Reichstag building that houses Germany’s parliament, is well off the main roads.

There were no immediate indications of what caused the incident. The government’s approach to curbing the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions enjoy wide support among most Germans, but they have also sparked occasionally violent protests in some major cities.

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