Car painted with anti-globalisation message crashes into gates of Angela Merkel’s office

A car with slogans painted on the side has crashed into the gates of Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin ahead of a meeting to extend Germany’s lockdown.

Police dogs were sent to sniff the green saloon vehicle, which was emblazoned with the words "Stop Globalisation Politics".

Pictures shared online showed the phrase "You damn killers of children and old people" scrawled in German on the other side.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and it was not clear if Ms Merkel was inside the building.

Dozens of police and a fire engine attended the incident. The driver, who appeared to be in late middle age, was taken away in a wheelchair.

There was only minor damage done to the front bumper of the car.

According to Der Spiegel, a suspiciously similar-looking car drove at low speed into the fence in 2014 with an anti-climate change message and one for love.

The slogan on one side read "End to human-killing climate change" and on the other: "Nicole, I love you".

The 48-year-old driver of the car was then taken to a police station. Nobody was injured and the car was travelling very slowly, a police spokeswoman said. She added that the motive was unclear.

Ms Merkel was scheduled to host a video conference of German state premiers this morning to discuss an extension to the lockdown and further steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Europe is on high alert after suspected Islamist militants killed eight people in Paris, Nice and Vienna in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, a Swiss woman knifed a victim in the neck and grabbed another by the throat in a Lugano department store. Police said she was identified as a known jihadist.

The chancellery office, a white post-modernist structure set across a square from the Reichstag building that houses Germany’s parliament, is well set back from any main roads.