Berlin energy outage for 45,000 properties blamed on ‘politically motivated’ assault | EUROtoday

Thousands of properties and companies in south-west Berlin are going through extended energy outages after high-voltage traces had been broken in what metropolis authorities have described as a “politically motivated attack” by “left-wing extremists.”

The incident, which occurred on Saturday morning, noticed a fireplace erupt on a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal, near the Lichterfelde energy plant. Initially, the disruption left greater than 45,000 households and a pair of,200 companies throughout 4 districts with out electrical energy. Heating and web providers had been additionally considerably affected by the widespread outage.

Franziska Giffey, the town’s Senator for Economic Affairs, described the incident as “a particularly severe power outage affecting tens of thousands of households and businesses, including care facilities, hospitals, numerous social institutions and companies.”

While energy was restored to hundreds of households by Sunday, many others are more likely to be left at nighttime till Thursday, authorities estimate.

open picture in gallery

Snowy climate and freezing temperatures has slowed down efforts to revive electrical energy and made life further troublesome for these affected.

The incident is being investigated as a doable act of arson. Authorities in contrast it to an analogous energy outage final September in southeast Berlin, when radical activists claimed accountability.

Authorities stated they had been working to substantiate the authenticity of a letter claiming accountability for the newest incident.

The perpetrators had been “clearly left-wing extremists,” Berlin’s Mayor Kai Wegner was cited as saying by a German news agency. “It is unacceptable that once again clearly left-wing extremists have attacked our power grid and thereby endangered human lives,” Wegner stated.