Due to sabotage, 25,500 apartments in Berlin are still without electricity
6 January 17:15
About 25,500 households and 1,200 businesses in southwestern Berlin are still without electricity as a result of left-wing extremist sabotage that led to large-scale blackouts on December 3. This was reported on Tuesday, January 6, by the system operator of the capital’s power grid, Stromnetz Berlin, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing DW.
The reason for the large-scale power outage was an arson attack on the cable bridge over the Teltow Canal near the Lichterfelde thermal power plant. Repair work in the districts of Zellendorf, Nikolaße and Wanze will last until the evening of January 8, Stromnetz Berlin reports. According to the ruling mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, the power outage affected approximately 100,000 residents of the city.
About 20 schools in southwestern Berlin remain closed. According to Stromnetz Berlin, 72 out of 74 retirement homes in the affected areas were supplied with electricity by Monday evening.
Berlin authorities: Blackout is an act of “left-wing terrorism”
The left-wing extremist group Vulkan claimed responsibility for the attack on critical infrastructure. Its representatives said that the purpose of the attack on the CHP plant was “fossil energy as such.”
The organization had already organized a sabotage in Brandenburg in March 2024. Back then, a plant of the American company Tesla was damaged as a result of a power line arson. The Berlin police consider the statement of the Vulkan group to be credible. The city’s General Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the sabotage.
Berlin’s ruling mayor and senator for the city’s interior, Iris Spranger, called the arson on the cable bridge “terrorism.” Kai Wegner also acknowledged that Germany’s critical infrastructure is vulnerable and called for protecting it from similar attacks in the future.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt agrees with this assessment. “According to our estimates, this is a purposefully planned attack,” he said.
