Car crashes into gates of Angela Merkel’s office

A car was seen crashing into the gate of the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today, a witness said.

A car being searched with sniffer dogs was emblazoned with messages raging at ‘you damn murderers of children and old people’ and ‘globalisation policies’. 

Dozens of police and a fire engine were on the scene and the estate car was moved away from the chancellery gates, but it was not clear who the driver was or what happened to them. 

There were no immediate reports of casualties.  

Merkel was scheduled to be hosting a video conference of German state premiers on Wednesday morning, at which an extension to the lockdown and further steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic were due to be discussed. 

Merkel and the 16 state governors were expected to extend a lockdown which has drawn protests in Berlin that have attracted an assortment of conspiracy theorists. right-wing extremists and far-left activists.

While Germany’s death rate is lower than in most of Western Europe, infections have proved stubbornly high even as other countries are seeing a decline in new cases. 

Health authorities today announced a record jump of 410 new deaths, while infections were higher than a week ago. 

Europe is on high alert after militants killed eight people in Paris, Nice and Vienna in recent weeks, although the reasons behind today’s crash were not initially clear.  

The chancellery, a post-modernist structure set across a square from the Reichstag building that houses Germany’s parliament, is well set back from any main roads. 

More to follow.