Berlin experienced a major blackout after the left-wing extremist “Volcano Group” set fire to a cable bridge near the Lichterfelde power plant on Saturday, January 3rd. The attack restricted the electricity supply to roughly 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses in south-west Berlin, leaving other residents exposed to freezing winter conditions.
The incident marks the second left-wing extremist attack on the city’s power infrastructure in four months. In September, a power pylon in southeast Berlin was sabotaged, causing prolonged outages in parts of Köpenick. Mayor Kai Wegner has described the recent attack as terrorism.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, criticized the response of German authorities in an X post. She wrote:
The blatant failure of the security authorities with regard to the left-extremist ‘Volcano Group’ reveals the politically motivated prioritization: Instead of combating real threats, they target blameless citizens and the country’s largest opposition. With devastating consequences for our infrastructure and the safety of the people.
The AfD group also commented on the imbalance in government priorities, adding:
This is CDU: Within 2 hours, so-called refugees were taken to warm accommodations, while Berliners have to freeze. And the 1,700 emergency power generators that the THW has sent to Ukraine could certainly be put to good use in Berlin as well. Own citizens first!
In a separate development, polling of voter intentions showed the AfD leading a national survey ahead of all other German political parties.
