Berlin Blackout Reveals Germany’s Blind Spot on Left-Wing Extremism
As Berlin scrambles to respond to the outage, critics say years of denial about extremist threats have left authorities reacting late—and at public expense.
Workers repair damage from a January 3 arson attack on high-voltage cables near Berlin’s Lichterfelde power plant.
Odd ANDERSEN / AFP
As Berlin scrambles to respond to the outage, critics say years of denial about extremist threats have left authorities reacting late—and at public expense.
The German establishment’s refusal to acknowledge the rise of left-wing extremism helped create the conditions for the “Volcano Group” attack that led to the deadly Berlin power outage.
Even after tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity for days in freezing winter conditions, officials are continuing to ignore the root cause and are instead responding by wasting police time.
Four police units, reportedly amounting to around 400 officers, have been tasked with patrolling critical points of the city’s power supply network. National paper Der Tagesspiegelsaid “discontent is growing among the officers” as a result of this decision, with German Police Union chief Landeschef Weh slamming it as a result of “political inaction.”
This major deployment will, of course, limit the force’s ability to monitor other crimes.
Some establishment groups even want the political motive of this attack to be ignored altogether. An internal letter from the Berlin Green Party urged members: “Do NOT focus on the perpetrators/investigations.” Heidi Reichinnek, the head of the Left Party group in the Bundestag, has also expressed doubt that leftists were responsible at all.
CSU Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has, at least, pledged what Bilddescribes as a “comprehensive security package” against leftist extremists in the wake of the attack. He claims that intelligence services will be bolstered to aid their efforts.
But AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said on Monday that “this has been overdue for a long time” and “is not enough,” stressing:
The black-red coalition must finally also end the funding of left-wing NGOs!
Innenminister Dobrindt hat nach dem Terroranschlag auf das Berliner Stromnetz angekündigt, den Linksextremismus zu bekämpfen. Das ist längst überfällig, aber reicht nicht aus: Schwarz-Rot muss endlich auch die Finanzierung linker NGOs beenden! https://t.co/yrY2IWaf6g
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, of the governing CDU, is also under pressure after it emerged he went out to play tennis shortly after the outage began, despite claiming to have “locked myself in my office.” Reports also say he was one of the first Berliners to be brought back online. “This man,” said Weidel, “is unacceptable!”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
