Activist group claims responsibility for Berlin power outage
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
About 38,000 households and 2,000 businesses are still without power.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
BERLIN - The German activist network Volcano Group claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to about 50,000 households and 2,000 businesses
The far-left organisation said the fossil fuel industry was its target, according to a letter posted on the Nachrichten aus Leipzig website on Jan 4. The platform is frequently used by such groups to disseminate information anonymously.
“We apologise to the less affluent residents of south-west Berlin,” it said. “However, our sympathy for the many villa owners in these neighbourhoods is limited.”
Berlin’s Interior Minister Iris Spranger said the authorities have classified the letter as authentic in a post on X. “I condemn this inhumane attack on Berliners and visitors to the city in the strongest possible terms,” she wrote, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Mayor Kai Wegner said the city may enlist military support to deal with the fallout. “With this attack, suspected left-wing extremists knowingly put human lives at risk, especially those of patients in hospitals, as well as elderly people, children, and families,” he said on X.
Local businesses expect the disruption to cost them millions of euros, lobby group UVB said.
Grid operator Stromnetz Berlin said 7,000 households and 150 businesses were reconnected on the night of Jan 3, with a further 3,000 households expected to regain supply on Jan 4. It warned that it could take until Jan 8 for power to be fully restored.
About 38,000 households and 2,000 businesses are still without power, it said. A similar blackout in September took several days to resolve.
The disruption has also affected mobile phone service and heating in some areas, according to Berlin’s fire department. The outage forced shops to close and hospitals and retirement homes to relocate patients and residents.
It came as temperatures in the German capital fell below freezing, with snowfall blanketing the city.
The Volcano Group has carried out several arson attacks in the states of Berlin and Brandenburg since 2011, according to the German domestic intelligence services. It claimed responsibility for an arson attack in March 2024 that disrupted the power supply to the Tesla factory in Grunheide, near Berlin. BLOOMBERG
