Berlin power outage affecting 45,000 homes blamed on ‘politically motivated’ attack
BERLIN (AP) — Many households and businesses in the Southwest Berlin There will be days without electricity after high-voltage lines were damaged by a fire that city officials said was the result of a politically motivated attack by “left-wing extremists” on Sunday.
According to local authorities, the fire broke out on Saturday morning at a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal near the Lichterfelde power plant. Initially, more than 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses were without power in four counties. Heating and internet services were also affected.
The city’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Franziska Giffey, described the incident as “a serious power outage affecting tens of thousands of households and businesses, including care facilities, hospitals, numerous social institutions and companies.”
According to authorities’ estimates, electricity will be restored to thousands of households by Sunday, while many households are expected to remain in the dark until Thursday.
Snowy weather and freezing temperatures slowed efforts to restore electricity and made life even more difficult for those affected.
It is being investigated whether the incident was a possible arson incident. Authorities likened it to a similar power outage in southeast Berlin last September, for which radical activists claimed responsibility.
Authorities said they were working to verify the authenticity of a letter claiming responsibility for the attack. last event.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said the perpetrators were “clearly left-wing extremists,” according to a German news agency. “It is unacceptable that left-wing extremists are once again endangering human lives by openly attacking our power grid,” Wegner said.
