Merkel shocked at car torching wave

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock on Thursday after arsonists torched cars in Berlin for the third night running in what officialswas likely apolitical vandalism. Addressing a commemoration in Wiesbaden, western Germany, of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the federal police servicethe waveof attacks filled her with “great concern”.But she she did not see any parallels to the violence, rioting and looting that have rocked British cities this month. “I hope and am fairly confident that we in Germany will be spared from the events that we saw recently in London and other cities in Britainremarks reported by German news agency

Mayor Klaus Wowereit called for help from the public to help end the destruction.

“This is a case of pure vandalism and criminality,

He called on Berliners “to help arrest the culprits by reporting suspicious activity to the police”.

Police have offered a €5,000 (about R50 000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

Nine cars, including two BMWs and an Audi, were set on fire overnight in the upscale district of Charlottenburg, in the west of the city, policeThis followed similar attacks on the two previous nights which resulted in 26 cars going up in flames. The total number of cars set ablaze in the capital this year stands at 147 - 63 of them this month alone.We don't rightly know the reason for it,” police

But we believe it is mostly the work of a single person, or a single group of people, and that it is vandalism with no political motive,” he added.

Ehrhart Koerting, the city government official in charge of police matters,

newspaper that, overall, half the cases of arson attacks on cars in the city are believed to be carried out by left-wing extremists, while the rest are copy-cat attacks and insurance scams. But “there are clues suggesting the latest attacks are not politically motivated,” he added.
Many but not all of the cars torched have been luxury vehicles.

Left-wingers, in the past, have set fire to expensive cars in parts of the capital in the throes of gentrification, but such attacks tend to take place around May 1 when protest groups traditionally gather for demonstrations.

And in many cases extreme-left splinter groups claim responsibility for these attacks, something which has not happened this time around.

Many of the most recent attacks have been carried out with barbecue starter-packs placed under cars, next to a tyre.

Some 100 policemen are out every night, along with a helicopter equipped with a thermal vision camera, to track down the culprits