Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
A far-left group has claimed responsibility, but according to Anonymous Germany, the claim is not real.
Early on Saturday, several cables on a bridge close to a gas-fired power plant in south-west Berlin were found burning, the BBC reported.
Fire crews extinguished the blaze, but electricity was knocked out across a wide area.
Roughly 45,000 households and about 2,200 businesses lost power, according to officials. Schools preparing to reopen after the Christmas break were among the facilities affected.
By Sunday afternoon, electricity had been restored to around 10,000 homes and 300 businesses. Berlin’s grid operator said full reconnection was not expected until Thursday.
Officials react
Berlin’s state economy minister told German media that incendiary devices were used to damage the cables.
The city’s mayor condemned the attack, accusing “suspected left-wing extremists” of knowingly putting lives at risk, particularly patients in hospitals.
Authorities said hospitals and care facilities were supplied with emergency generators. Some patients were transferred to other sites, and people receiving care at home were moved to facilities with spare capacity.
Several hospitals had their power restored by Sunday, officials said.
Russian false flag?
A far-left activist group calling itself the Vulkangruppe said it carried out the attack, according to a statement posted on social media.
The group said the fossil fuel economy, rather than cutting electricity, was its intended target.
Police told AFP they considered the claim “plausible” while investigations continue. The group previously said it was behind a 2024 arson attack that halted production at Tesla’s Berlin factory.
However, Anonymous Germany now claims that at least the admission is a Russian false flag operation.
In a post on X, the group cites a linguistic expert for saying that the admision was not originally written in German.
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In another post, Anonymous Germany posted that “Anyone who believes that a far-left Vulkangruppe was at work also believes that Hitler was a communist”.
Anonymous Germany has not provided additional evidence for their claims.
Sources: AFP, German media, BBC, X
