A protester demanding a tax holiday on petrol set fire to his own BMW car in front of the German city of Frankfurt’s most iconic skyscraper late last month to protest at soaring fuel costs.
Police said he parked the car on a grass verge near the 63-story Messeturm building, poured a canister of petrol over it and set it alight. Lettering painted on the car said “Petrol Profiteering” and showed the address of his protest site on the Internet. By the time police and fire crews arrived, the car had been gutted.
The protester, 30, who lives in neighboring Bavaria state, was detained by the police. They said the damage, including the loss of the car, totaled about 10,000 euros (NT$481,950). The man said he wanted to burn the car in Berlin, but it had been too far to drive.
PHOTO: EPA
Karlheinz Wagner, a police spokesman, said the protestor, who had given up his job 23 days earlier, would probably be charged with pollution and would receive a big invoice from the fire brigade.
“The guy was quite lucky because the petrol tank did not explode,” he added.
On the Web site, the man, who gave only his first name, Michael, made clear that he viewed the German government, not oil companies, as the profiteers, since the price of petrol in Germany was mainly tax.
With fuel costs rising sharply recently, the protestor was feeling the pinch. He said he had quit his job because he had to pay 250 euros (NT$12,000) per month for fuel to drive to a job 80km from his home.
The scene of the blaze, the Messeturm, is a lone tower dominating its own plaza and a main Frankfurt street and is the second tallest office building in the city.
(DPA)
一位爭取油價租稅假期的示威者，上個月底在德國法蘭克福市最著名的摩天大樓前，以焚燒自己寶馬汽車的方式抗議油價飆漲。
警方表示，他先把車停在六十三層樓高的商品交易會大廈附近的草坪旁，然後朝著車子倒了一桶汽油，再點火引燃。他的車體上漆有「牟取油價暴利」及他的抗議網站網址等字樣。等警方和消防隊趕到現場，這輛車已經全毀。
這名三十歲的抗議男子住在鄰近的巴伐利亞邦，縱火後即被警方羈押。警方表示，包括被燒毀的寶馬車在內，這場火災總共造成約一萬歐元（約合新台幣四十八萬一千九百五十元）的損失。這名男子說，他本來想在柏林焚燒這輛車，可是開到柏林實在太遠了。
警方發言人卡爾海茲．華格納表示，這名抗議人士二十三天前辭掉工作，現在可能會因污染環境被起訴，還會收到消防隊開出的鉅額罰單。
他補充說道：「那輛車的油箱沒有爆炸，算他走運。」
在這名男子架設的網站上，他只透露他名叫麥克。他在網站上清楚表示，他認為從高油價中牟得暴利的是德國政府，而非石油公司，因為稅金就佔了德國油價絕大的比例。
隨著最近石油價格狂飆，這名抗議人士的荷包也大縮水。他說，就是因為每個月從家裡開車到公司（相距八十公里）的油錢就要兩百五十歐元（新台幣一萬兩千元），他才辭掉工作。
這起燒車事件發生在商品交易會大廈前，這棟鶴立於廣場上的摩天高樓坐落在法蘭克福市的主要大道上，是該市第二高的辦公大樓。
（德通社�翻譯：袁星塵）
A: What are some of the hottest auction items other than the Labubu doll? B: NBA player Stephen Curry’s basketball card, actress Jane Birkin’s Hermes “Birkin bag,” and Princess Diana’s dresses also attracted robust bidding recently. A: How much can a trading card cost? B: Curry’s Paris Olympics autograph card was sold for US$518,500, or NT$15.3 million. A: Wow, it broke the record held by MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani’s baseball card. That’s amazing. A: 除了 「拉布布」玩偶以外，還有哪些熱門拍賣品？ B: NBA球星史蒂芬柯瑞的球卡、女星珍柏金的原版愛馬仕「柏金包」、戴安娜王妃的禮服最近都引發競標。 A: 一張卡片能有多貴啊？ B: 哈這張印著柯瑞在巴黎奧運的簽名卡，拍出51萬多美元天價、高達台幣1,530萬！ A: 哇他打破了MLB球星大谷翔平球卡的紀錄，真是令人驚奇。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
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