Electricity has been restored to thousands of households in the southwest of the German capital, Berlin, after a power outage hit some 45,000 homes and 2,220 businesses on Saturday, the grid operator said on Sunday.
“By 3:23 a.m. (0223 UTC/GMT) on 4 January, we had been able to restore power to around 7,000 households and 150 businesses in several stages, particularly in the Lichterfelde area,” Stromnetz Berlin announced on its website overnight.
Thousands of people in Berlin were left without power as temperatures remained cold over the weekendImage: Carsten Koall/dpa/picture alliance
Suspected malicious act
The partial restoration of power means that some 38,000 homes and more than 2,000 businesses remain without electricity in the district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, with Stromnetz Berlin saying it could take until Thursday afternoon to remedy the problem completely.
The outage, which leaves many of those homes without heating, comes as the city is experiencing a bout of very cold winter weather.
The affected district contains several care homes and medical facilities. Emergency services have transferred residents from at least two homes for the elderly.
The loss of power was caused by a fire at a cable link over the Teltow Canal that police are investigating as a possible arson attack after a letter sent to authorities claimed responsibility.
German police suspect arson behind Berlin power outage
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A spokeswoman for Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey said authorities believed that a malicious act was behind the fire.
The authenticity of the letter is being examined, but no group has been identified as a certain perpetrator so far.
However, Berlin’s state leader, Mayor Kai Wegner of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), said the culprits were “obviously left-wing extremists,” whom he accused of endangering people’s lives with their actions.
A Berlin police spokesman also said that it was “credible” that the letter was written by a left-wing extremist group calling itself the “Vulkangruppe” (Volcano Group), as the letter claimed.
He said, however, that the investigation was still ongoing.
The fire occurred on a bridge carrying cables over the Teltow CanalImage: Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture alliance
Police call for better surveillance
The head of the Berlin branch of the GdP police union, Stephan Weh, called the attack “senseless” and without any legitimation, “even if the suspected arsonists again throw together all sorts of hypocritical reasons in a pamphlet on the end of the world.”
He called for an “unideological” debate on video surveillance in view of the fact that so many thousands of people were affected.
“Cameras mounted on electricity poles could help investigations but also have a preventive effect. We do without protective technology in the public space just because some people cry out loudly and cite Orwell’s ‘1984,’” he said.
His words were echoed by Alexander Schirp, the director of the regional business associations in Berlin and Brandenburg (UVB).
“We are expecting damage costing millions to plants and machines and owing to high losses in revenue,” he said, calling for better protection of infrastructure against attacks and accidents.
“This is a serious problem and stokes a feeling of insecurity in the business world,” he said.
Stromnetz Berlin said there had been a similar attack on two power pylons in the city’s southeast in September that was politically motivated.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
