Dozens of luxury cars in Berlin have been torched since January by a group of disgruntled Germans. Mercedes, BMWs and Porsches have all been targets. Gallery of ze literally carpocalyptic destruction below.
So why is this happening? Like ze French, it's ze world economy! Germany's once-booming economy has shrunk due to the same market woes affecting everyone else. Unemployment is on the rise, recession is everywhere and rents in Berlin are soaring at the same time wealth is shrinking. And, as they often do when things take a turn for the worse, the Germans have lost their shit and formed an angry militant group.
Cleverly, the pissed Berliners (the people, not the donuts) are going by the name Movement for Militant Resistance, which has the initials BMW in German. Most of the city's citizens don't own a car so a vehicle, especially a Porsche or a CLK Mercedes, is a clear sign of wealth and an easy target for vandalism.
The group's modus operandi seems to be squirting accelerant between the windshield and the hood to ignite the engine on fire. This explains the great/awful pictures of cars with their engines spewing fumes into the air. The problem is so bad there's now a website, Brennenede-autos.de tracking the incidents, car-type and location.
Give the Germans credit for coming up with an even worse Carpocalypse. (Hat tip to Jeff and Antonio!)
[Photos And Info: TheLocal.de, Tagesspiegel.de, morgenpost.de, BZ-Berlin via Bloomberg]