Driver crashes into gate outside Angela Merkel's office, detained

Berlin [Germany], November 25 (ANI): A driver in a station wagon with white hand-printed letters crashed into a gate outside German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office on Wednesday morning, but could not get past the barrier and was later detained.
The police said a 54-year-old man was taken in custody over Wednesday's crash, reported New York Times.
The message "You damned murderers of children and old people" was painted on one side of the car, while the other side read, "Stop the politics of globalisation," according to pictures of the crash site.
The police tweeted that the security measures had worked, and at no point were Merkel or other government workers in danger.
Hartmut Paeth, a spokesman for the Berlin police, said that officers were in the process of clarifying with the elderly gentleman, whom they have in custody as a driver, and how this situation came about.
Although the driver's motive was unclear, the incident bore similarities to another crash outside Merkel's office over six years ago, according to New York Times.
In 2014, a car, also adorned with hand-painted white letters, crashed into a gate outside Merkel's office. The message on the car urged a stop to climate change.
The messages on the car on Wednesday initially raised questions over whether the action was connected to protests in past weeks over widespread restrictions to public life to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Germany, reported New York Times.
Last week, protesters were forbidden to gather in front of the Reichstag building, a couple of hundred yards away from Merkel's building, as the authorities feared that they could hinder or endanger lawmakers and government workers. (ANI)