Car crashes into gate of Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin

BERLIN, Germany — A car crashed into the front gate of the German chancellery building housing Angela Merkel’s offices on Wednesday morning but appeared to have caused little damage, Berlin police said.

Spokesman Hartmut Paeth said police were 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 November 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.