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Auto arson

August 23, 2011

For the eighth successive night, unidentified perpetrators have torched several cars in Berlin. Investigators say they have no concrete leads as yet. The federal police have been drafted in to offer assistance.

https://p.dw.com/p/12LeC
A burnt-out car, hood up, on the side of a Berlin street
Dozens of cars have been torched in the past weekImage: picture-alliance/dpa

As many as 12 additional cars were torched in Berlin overnight Monday as the series of arson attacks in the German capital moved into its eighth night. The burned vehicles were once again spread across several districts of the city, including Gesundbrunnen, Rudow, Schöneberg and Spandau.

After a week of arson attacks, police remain on high alert with 250 officers and a helicopter on overnight duty in a bid to identify the offenders. For the first time, 100 officers from Germany's federal policing agency, the Bundespolizei, were on hand to assist their colleagues from Berlin.

The Bundespolizei, whose services were offered by Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, was set to provide plainclothes investigators and other technical assistance like helicopters in a bid to catch the criminals.

However, police say they still have no solid leads on who's behind the arson attacks.

Berlin's Social Democrat Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who has been criticized for a soft response to the developments, said in a newspaper interview that solving such crimes is often a difficult task.

"We cannot monitor the entire city. Putting more police on the streets will not automatically help resolve this," Wowereit told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper in an interview published Tuesday.

Author: Mark Hallam (dapd, dpa)
Editor: Martin Kuebler