Unemployed German sets car ablaze in fuel protest

FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - An unemployed German man set his car ablaze in the centre of Frankfurt on Friday to protest against the steep rise in fuel prices, police said.

In a rare demonstration in Germany against soaring oil costs, the 30-year-old man from Bavaria drove his black BMW onto a patch of grass near the city's exhibition centre, poured petrol over it and set it alight.

"The Bavarian...said he carried out the act because he was unemployed and could no longer afford a car due to the high cost of fuel," police said in a statement.

Officers briefly detained the man before releasing him. He may still have to face charges for breaching Germany's pollution laws, a police spokesman said.

Fishermen and truck drivers in several European countries have staged protests over the rising price of oil, which hit a new record above $142 a barrel on Friday. (Reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich and Dave Graham, editing by Mark Trevelyan)