BERLIN (AP) — Police say a man from Afghanistan who tried to reach German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she exited Parliament has been committed to a psychiatric clinic.
German TV stations showed the man shouting unintelligibly while being tackled by plainclothes police as Merkel walked out of the Bundestag following her election for a fourth term Wednesday. The man was tackled to the ground about 20 feet (6 meters) away from Merkel as she got into her car.
Vereitelter Angriff: Als #Merkel den #Bundestag verlassen hat, haben Sicherheitskräfte einen Unbekannten niedergerungen, der offenbar auf die frisch vereidigte Kanzlerin losgehen wollte. | #Kanzlerinwahl – Hier das Video: pic.twitter.com/K83uSJl99S
— phoenix_kom (@phoenix_kom) March 14, 2018
Berlin police said Thursday the 23-year-old, whose name hasn’t been released, has psychological problems but his actions “weren’t religiously or politically motivated.” The man is being investigated on suspicion of resisting arrest.