Arsonists have set fire to 26 cars in the German capital in the last two days, mainly Mercedes, BMWs and Audis, police said Wednesday. That brings the total number torched this year in Berlin to at least 138, more than double the figure for all of 2010. The rise in Berlin car burnings coincides with widespread lawlessness that erupted last week across England. In Berlin, far-left extremists are specifically targeting German luxury cars, symbols of the country's wealth and export prowess, police
Arsonists have in the past also lit a car's hood on fire after hosing it with accelerant.
No arrests have been made in the most recent string of attacks.
The fires come amid worsening economic data and political discontent in the country. German growth, last year the motor of Europe's recovery, almost ground to a halt in the second quarter. Gross domestic product, adjusted for seasonal effects, rose 0.1 percent from the first quarter, the Federal Statistics Office
Almost two years into the European debt crisis that began in Greece, restiveness over Germany's contribution to rescues is also weighing on Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition as voters rebel over providing aid to fellow euro countries.
Merkel's Christian Democrats have the backing of 32 percent of Germans, while her coalition partners, the Free Democrats, are supported by 3 percent, according to a Forsa poll released Aug. 10. The two parties won the 2009 election with a combined 48.4 percent support.
When the country in 2009 experienced its worst recession since World War II, a record 221 autos were torched.
A key factor for the unrest is that about 40 percent of German youths are either without a high-school degree or a paying job, according to Johannes Becker, head of the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg.
In Britain you have the phenomenon that people are predisposed to jumping on the bandwagon," Becker said. "They see that something is up and want to be part of it, to add some fuel to the fire, as it were. With these cars in Berlin, they are in contrast consciously trying to send a message."
The attacks in the past happened mainly in eastern Berlin districts where more affluent tenants had pushed out squatters who arrived there after reunification in 1990. It's a "new trend" that arsonists have now moved west, targeting areas such as Westend and its upscale neighbor Charlottenburg
Maass, a Berlin police spokesman.
Wolfgang Lambrecht inspected a burned-out silver Mercedes on Tuesday afternoon that was parked next to a tree, its trunk blackened by the fire. Lambrecht, who has lived in a nearby apartment for 16 years, woke up in the middle of the night when the smell of burning tires crept through his open bedroom window
Arsonists have in the past also lit a car's hood on fire after hosing it with accelerant.
No arrests have been made in the most recent string of attacks.
The fires come amid worsening economic data and political discontent in the country. German growth, last year the motor of Europe's recovery, almost ground to a halt in the second quarter. Gross domestic product, adjusted for seasonal effects, rose 0.1 percent from the first quarter, the Federal Statistics Office
Almost two years into the European debt crisis that began in Greece, restiveness over Germany's contribution to rescues is also weighing on Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition as voters rebel over providing aid to fellow euro countries.
Merkel's Christian Democrats have the backing of 32 percent of Germans, while her coalition partners, the Free Democrats, are supported by 3 percent, according to a Forsa poll released Aug. 10. The two parties won the 2009 election with a combined 48.4 percent support.
When the country in 2009 experienced its worst recession since World War II, a record 221 autos were torched.
A key factor for the unrest is that about 40 percent of German youths are either without a high-school degree or a paying job, according to Johannes Becker, head of the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg.
In Britain you have the phenomenon that people are predisposed to jumping on the bandwagon," Becker said. "They see that something is up and want to be part of it, to add some fuel to the fire, as it were. With these cars in Berlin, they are in contrast consciously trying to send a message."
The attacks in the past happened mainly in eastern Berlin districts where more affluent tenants had pushed out squatters who arrived there after reunification in 1990. It's a "new trend" that arsonists have now moved west, targeting areas such as Westend and its upscale neighbor Charlottenburg
Maass, a Berlin police spokesman.
Wolfgang Lambrecht inspected a burned-out silver Mercedes on Tuesday afternoon that was parked next to a tree, its trunk blackened by the fire. Lambrecht, who has lived in a nearby apartment for 16 years, woke up in the middle of the night when the smell of burning tires crept through his open bedroom window
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