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German authorities suspect a leftwing group is behind a power outage in south-west Berlin that has left tens of thousands of households, hospitals and nursing homes without electricity and heating in freezing temperatures.
The outage, which began on Saturday morning and is expected to last until Thursday, underscores the vulnerability of Germany’s critical infrastructure and the potentially far-reaching and prolonged disruptions caused by sabotage, just as the country has warned of a rising number of such attacks.
“With this attack, suspected leftwing extremists knowingly put human lives at risk, especially those of patients in hospitals, elderly people, children and families,” Berlin mayor Kai Wegner said on Sunday.
A fire severely damaged high-voltage cables near a combined power and heating station supplying south-western districts including Steglitz and Wannsee, affecting 45,000 households, authorities said. A far-left organisation calling itself the Vulkangruppe has claimed responsibility.
By Sunday, electricity had been restored for about 10,000 households, while tens of thousands of residents remained without power and heating. The Berlin senate declared a state of emergency, requesting support from the military and the federal police.
With temperatures below zero centigrade and further snowfall forecast in the coming days, families were urged to find alternative sleeping arrangements. Authorities set up emergency centres and shelters with makeshift beds and access to hot showers.
Police drove through snow-covered neighbourhoods overnight using loudspeakers to issue guidance on how to stay warm and prevent hazards.
Rail and underground stations were closed, hospitals faced severe disruption and thousands of businesses, including supermarkets, were forced to shut. Schools and day care centres, which were due to restart on Monday after the Christmas break, will remain closed. Mobile phone services were also affected.
In September, Berlin authorities blamed an unnamed group for a suspected arson attack on power pylons that cut power to more than 40,000 households for several hours, and suggested it was politically motivated.
The Vulkangruppe, or Volcano Group, has taken credit for acts of sabotage in the past. In 2024 it said it carried out an arson attack on a power pylon near Tesla’s factory on the outskirts of the German capital — forcing the carmaker to halt production for several days.
In a 2019 report, Berlin authorities labelled the group as leftwing extremist, saying it had committed arson attacks since 2011, targeting cables, radio masts and railway lines.
The latest incident comes as Germany’s critical energy infrastructure — already suffering from two decades of under-investment — has been subjected to a growing number of sabotage and cyber attacks, which authorities have largely attributed to an intensification of Russia’s hybrid warfare.
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