A commuter walks along a passage at the Wannsee S-Bahn train station illuminated by the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) in southwest Berlin on early January 4, 2026, after power cables in the area were seriously damaged, causing a power outage. RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP
Police in Berlin said Sunday, January 4, they suspected a far-left group of being behind an arson attack that has left tens of thousands of homes in the German capital without power.
Early on Saturday morning several high-voltage power cables were spotted in flames on a bridge near a power plant in the southwest of the city. The blaze was quickly put out, but about 45,500 households and 2,200 businesses were left without electricity.
A police spokesman told Agence France-Presse that a claim of responsibility posted online from the left-wing extremist Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) was "plausible," while adding that "investigations are continuing." The statement from the Volcano Group posted online said that the power station in Berlin's Lichterfelde district had been "successfully sabotaged" but said that "the fossil fuel economy was the target of the action, not power cuts."
Berlin's Mayor Kai Wegner condemned the attack, saying in a statement on X that "suspected left-wing extremists knowingly put lives at risk, especially those of patients in hospitals, as well as the elderly, children and families."
