|
|
Change Your Life! |
Parliament security could be tightened |
|
News
|
|
|
September 20, 2000
BERLIN (AP) - Authorities were reviewing security precautions around the German parliament Tuesday after a man rammed his car against a glass entrance and tried to set the gasoline-soaked interior of the vehicle alight, a spokeswoman said. Police arrested a 22-year-old German after he drove a compact car up a ramp at the Reichstag building's back entrance Monday night and smashed it into the reinforced glass, which withstood the impact, said the parliament spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. Security officers prevented the driver from setting fire to the car with a shot from a flare gun. He told them he carried out the attack to draw attention to personal problems. Security officials will examine what they can learn from the attack to help prevent any repeat of the incident, the spokeswoman said, adding that officials had so far taken no steps to restrict access to the building. Security around the parliament is relatively relaxed in line with the government's idea of keeping Germany's democratic institutions close to the people. Visitors are encouraged to inspect the lower house of parliament, which moved from the former West German capital Bonn into the renovated 19th-century Reichstag building in Berlin last year. Visitors can watch parliamentary debates from a gallery under a glass dome designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster and read graffiti left by Soviet troops who stormed the building at the end of the war. The building attracts hundreds of tourists daily but has also seen a number of dramatic incidents under this open policy. In March, a 29-year-old Turkish man committed suicide by setting himself on fire in front of the main entrance. At least one person has threatened to commit suicide by leaping from the glass dome to the ground, the parliament spokeswoman said. |