At least one person has been killed and eight others injured after a car drove into a crowd on a busy Berlin, Germany, street.

Emergency officials say it is unclear whether the incident, which happened at around 10:30 local time (08:30 GMT), was intentional or an accident. 

A police spokesperson told reporters that the driver was arrested at the scene. 

The incident took place in the heart of western Berlin, on one of its busiest shopping streets.

Reports say the vehicle veered off the street and mounted the pavement before crashing into a shop front. 

Images from the scene show a silver Renault Clio crashed through a display window in a cosmetics shop. There are also pictures of what appears to be a body, covered in blankets, in the middle of the road.

Around 130 emergency workers are at the scene according to the Berlin police service. 

The actor John Barrowman tweeted that he was nearby when the incident took place and in a video posted from the scene said the car had repeatedly mounted the footpath before crashing into the storefront. 

"The police presence is unbelievable. They are clearing out the area," the actor said. "There's helicopters coming in now to airlift people."

The incident happened on the corner of the busy Rankestrasse and Tauentzienstrasse in western Berlin. 

The area is opposite Breitscheidplatz, where 12 people were killed when a truck driver deliberately drove his lorry into a crowd of people at a Christmas market. 

IS later claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by an unsuccessful asylum seeker. The attacker was later shot dead by Italian police.