Despite an initial investigation indicated that a driver rammed his car into the building with the intention of committing suicide, later on, German authorities have stated they suspect the perpetrator of attempted arson after they seized canisters containing petroleum and several bottles of lighter fluid from the suspect's vehicle, the Bild newspaper reported Monday, citing the police.
A car rammed into the main entrance of the SPD headquarters in Berlin at around midnight local time (23:00 GMT), with no one was injured in the incident.
The man has reportedly been delivered to a hospital with no life-threatening injuries.
"Around midnight, a man drove a car toward the entrance of the SPD party headquarters in the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Kreuzberg. Apart from the driver himself, no one was injured," the Berlin Police said on Twitter.
Gegen Mitternacht ist ein Mann mit einem Auto in den Eingangsbereich der #SPD-Parteizentrale im Willy-Brandt-Haus in #Kreuzberg gefahren. Bis auf den Fahrer selbst gab es keine Verletzten. Unser #LKA hat die Ermittlungen übernommen.
— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) 25 декабря 2017 г.
^tsm
The incident comes in light of the recent deadlock in the German government, after Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to form a majority government, the Bavarian leader Horst Seehofer has called a new grand coalition between Merkel's CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD "the best option for Germany," emphasizing that such a scenario would be "better in any case than 'Jamaica,' new elections or a minority government."
READ MORE: German SPD, CDU-CSU Agree to Launch Long-Awaited Coalition Talks on Jan 7
The SPD is the second largest parliamentary fraction, having obtained 153 mandates during the federal elections on September 24, with the leading alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) garnering 246 seats.
READ MORE: Germany's SPD's Schulz Says He Hasn't Given Green Light for Coalition
The required majority to elect a German chancellor and form a government is 355 seats and following the November 20 withdrawal of the German Free Democratic Party (FDP) from the coalition talks with the CDU/CSU union and the Greens (prospective 'Jamaica coalition'), there occurred a situation described by the country's president as "unprecedented in 70 years," the only remaining options for the CDU/CSU are either further attempts to form a coalition, a minority government or new elections.
