Berlin, Jan 4, (dpa/GNA) – Thousands of homes in south-west Berlin had their power restored on Sunday, as authorities probed an apparent arson attack by what Mayor Kai Wegner called “left-wing extremists.”
Saturday’s outage affecting around 45,000 households and more than 2,200 businesses was the result of a politically motivated attack, according to Wegner, who is a member of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“It is unacceptable that left-wing extremists are once again attacking our power grid and endangering human lives,” said Wegner, referring to a similar attack on two power pylons in the city in September.
The lengthy document from the alleged perpetrators claiming responsibility in the current case was titled “Cutting off the Power to the Rulers.”
“In the greed for energy, the Earth is drained, sucked dry, burnt, abused, burnt down, raped destroyed,” it stated. The gas power plant in Berlin-Lichterfelde was “successfully sabotaged,” it said.
“Power outages were not the target of the action, but rather the fossil energy industry,” the group claims in the letter.
Early on Saturday morning, a fire on a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal to a power station damaged several key power lines, affecting the city’s Nikolassee, Zehlendorf, Wannsee and Lichterfelde districts.
The outage hit street lighting, mobile telecommunications, traffic lights and supermarket fridges, as well as private households, shutting down heating systems as temperatures hovered around freezing point.
Police began investigating a suspected arson attack after the state security service responsible for political crimes received a letter claiming responsibility.
The letter is authentic, the member of the city’s administration responsible for interior matters, Iris Spranger, told dpa on Sunday. In Berlin’s government such ministers are called senators.
The electricity provider reconnected many homes overnight but said it will not be possible to restore power to all affected households until Thursday afternoon. September’s outage also persisted for several days.
“By 3:23 am (0223 GMT) on January 4, we had been able to restore power to around 7,000 households and 150 businesses in several stages, particularly in the Lichterfelde area,” electricity provider Stromnetz Berlin said on its website.
Business group demands greater protection
Affected businesses are expecting serious economic consequences due to the power outage.
“We anticipate millions in damages to equipment and machinery and high losses in revenue,” said Alexander Schirp, chief executive of the Berlin and Brandenburg Business Association (UVB).
The situation is placing extreme strain on companies and shows the need for better protection for sensitive equipment, said Schirp: “The power outage shows that our infrastructure is not adequately protected against attacks and accidents.”
According to Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey, incendiary devices had been placed directly under the cables.
“The force with which continuous heat development and a continuous fire occurred was greater than the force that a ‘ball shell’ [an explosive pyrotechnic in spherical form] could have triggered,” Giffey told local broadcaster RBB on Saturday evening.
“A ‘ball shell’ would not have been able to damage our cables, given how they are secured,” she added.
GNA