Man drives car into SPD HQ

A 58-year-old man who deliberately crashed his car into the headquarters of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin apparently wanted to commit suicide, police said yesterday.Police did not rule out a political motive given the location of the incident, a spokeswoman said.There were no immediate indications that the man was an extremist.The driver suffered a bleeding head injury and was taken to hospital after ramming his vehicle into the entrance area of the Social Demoratic Party’s office at midnight on Christmas Eve.The car came to a stop after crashing through glass.A fire subsequently broke out in the vehicle and was doused immediately by the building’s sprinkler system, police said.Several jerry cans of petrol and bottles of lighter fluid were recovered from inside the car.The suspect told police that earlier in the night he had left a bag of gas canisters and grill lighters in front of the headquarters of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).The doorman at the CDU office had seen an unknown person about 10.50pm (2150 GMT) on Sunday and alerted police.The CDU office at Konrad Adenauer House and SPD headquarters at Willy Brandt House are about 4km apart.The SPD has sat in two coalition governments with Merkel’s conservatives and is currently exploring the option of entering into another coalition following elections in September.An SPD spokeswoman said that there were no additional injuries, adding that there was no one at the headquarters apart from the security guard.SPD leader Martin Schulz wrote about the incident on Twitter yesterday and said he is happy that none of his colleagues were harmed.