Production in the only European Tesla factory has been at a standstill since Tuesday morning. The factory in Grünheide near Berlin was evacuated. The “Vulcan Group”, classified as left-wing extremist, claimed responsibility for the “attack on the power supply” near the Tesla factory as a protest once morest the US car manufacturer – the police are checking the authenticity of the letter.
Sharp criticism of Tesla
“We sabotaged Tesla today,” the Vulkan group said in its letter. The police have received the confession letter, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The authenticity is being checked. The volcano group was already suspected of carrying out an arson attack on the Tesla construction site’s power supply in 2021. At the time, she accused Tesla on the radical left-wing website Indymedia.org of being neither green, ecological nor social. The group also accuses Tesla of “extreme conditions of exploitation” and calls for the “complete destruction of the Gigafactory.”
State Criminal Police Office is investigating
A burning electricity pylon previously caused a power outage in the region in the east of Brandenburg near Berlin. “We are investigating the initial suspicion that it was deliberate arson,” said the police spokesman. According to the police, the State Criminal Police Office began an investigation. They would be led in all directions, said a spokeswoman. The electricity pylon in question is free in a field and is not fenced in. The car manufacturer said that an arson attack was assumed and referred to information from the responsible authorities.
Bild: (APA/dpa/Sebastian Gollnow)
According to police information, the fire department was called to the fire in the Gosen-Neu Zittau area near Berlin at around 5:15 a.m. and began extinguishing the fire. According to a spokesman, the fire caused a power outage in the area. Several media outlets reported on the fire.
Production stoppage for hours
As Tesla continued, all measures were taken to secure the production facilities. After consultation with the electricity provider Edis, Elon Musk’s company does not expect production to restart quickly. “We don’t yet know when production can start once more. It will take more than a few hours.” The damage was in the millions, the newspaper “BZ” quoted Tesla as saying.
Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) announced consequences in an initial statement. “If the initial findings are confirmed, it will be a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure,” said Stübgen. “This will have consequences.” Thousands of people have been cut off from basic services and put in danger. “The constitutional state will respond to such an act of sabotage with the utmost severity,” he said.
Environmental activists protested in the forest
When asked, the authorities initially did not comment on a possible connection with protests around the Tesla factory site. Since Thursday, around 80 to 100 environmental activists have been occupying part of the state forest in Brandenburg near the Tesla factory, which Elon Musk’s company wants to clear in the event of an expansion of its site. The activists have built around ten tree houses several meters high and announced that they want to hold out for as long as possible. The Grünheide citizens’ initiative also speaks out once morest Tesla’s expansion plans and shows solidarity with the occupiers.
Image: (APA/AFP/TOBIAS SCHWARZ)
Tesla has been manufacturing electric cars in Grünheide for almost two years. According to the company’s most recent information, around 12,500 employees work there. Environmentalists criticize, among other things, the fact that the site is in a water protection area. In a citizen survey in Grünheide, a majority turned once morest the expansion plans. Tesla also wants to expand production.
