An activist 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 Friday to protest at soaring fuel costs, according to dpa. Police said he parked the car on a grass verge near the 63-storey 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. Police detained the man, 30, who lives in neighbouring Bavaria state. They said the damage, including the loss of the car, totalled about 10,000 euros (15,700 dollars). The man had said he had wanted to burn the car in Berlin, but it had been too far to drive. Police spokesman Karlheinz Wagner said the protester, 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 website, 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 retail price of petrol in Germany was mainly tax. He said he had ceased working because he had had to pay 250 euros monthly for fuel to drive to a job 80 kilometres 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 generally ranked the second tallest office building in the city.
