Flaming Ferraris (among others)

By D.S. | BERLIN

BERLIN has been overtaken by a strange wave of car-burning. Last night nine cars went up in flames. The night before it was 15. Altogether this year 290 cars have been torched in 227 cases of arson. Last year was relatively quiet, with only 44 cars attacked; 2009, though, was a big year, with 401.

Torching cars, by placing a firelighter under a tyre, is absurdly easy, and hard to prevent. The targets have been any kind of car, from BMWs to Volkswagens. A police spokesman says a lot of the recent cases are probably copycat acts by "confused" people. The most recent series, he says, could be the work of one group, or even an individual.

In general the motives, as far as the authorities can tell, vary from vandalism to insurance fraud, revenge, or "political" acts carried out by left-wing extremists. Berlin police reckon that this last explanation accounts for around one-third of car-burnings. The telltale signs include explanatory notes or phone calls, or the fact that a posh car was torched in a poor neighbourhood.

Interestingly, in Hamburg, where 193 cars have been burned this year, police judge fewer than ten cases to have been political.

Some are linking the car-burning wave in the capital with elections to Berlin's parliament on September 18th. The present coalition, of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Die Linke, a far-left party, could be embarrassed if they are seen as failing to maintain law and order as polling day approaches.

Klaus Wowereit, the mayor, has called on Berliners to be vigilant. But the arsonists' areas of operation are unpredictable, ranging from prosperous Charlottenburg in former west Berlin to edgy Friedrichshain, formerly part of the communist east.