Power has been fully restored to tens of thousands of Berlin homes and businesses hit by a days-long blackout after an arson attack claimed by left-wing extremists, authorities said Wednesday. Some 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses were plunged into darkness early Saturday after high-voltage cables were set alight, raising questions about Germany's resilience to sabotage of its critical infrastructure.
All had been reconnected to the grid by 2:10 pm (1310 GMT) on Wednesday, Franziska Giffey, Berlin senator for economic affairs, told a press conference. The attack affecting the leafy southwestern Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, which forced the closure of schools and hospitals, was claimed online by an extremist group calling itself the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).
Marion Senhs, owner of a horse-riding equipment shop, told AFP that she was still "a little frozen" after the blackout left many without heating during days of sub-zero temperatures. "Things won't return to normal that quickly," she said. The incident comes at a time when Germany, a strong backer of Ukraine, has accused Russia of a spate of "hybrid attacks", from drone overflights and espionage to online disinformation.
However, an interior ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday said there were no signs that Russia was involved. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has "stated very clearly that this arson attack qualifies as an act of left-wing terrorism", the spokeswoman said. "We consider the claim of responsibility to be authentic," she added, dismissing reports that the text read more clearly when back-translated into Russian.
The Vulkangruppe has claimed responsibility for 12 attacks since 2011, including an act of sabotage targeting the Tesla factory near Berlin in March 2024, when power lines were set on fire. German federal prosecutors on Tuesday launched a terrorism investigation into the most recent attack.
Restaurant owner Milenko Petrovic, 38, told AFP he felt let "let down" by the official reaction to the blackout. "We had no information, we had nowhere to turn to," he said, adding that phone and internet connections had been knocked out. "In this day and age, that's a damning indictment of Berlin," he said.
Maren Schellenberg, the mayor of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, told reporters: "We must realise that we cannot protect ourselves from every attack." An 83-year-old woman who lived in the area died during the blackout, a police spokesman said. The woman was found alive in her flat by a relative who had been caring for her, but she died after being picked up in an ambulance.
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