Electricity pole set on fire
Federal prosecutor’s office takes over investigation into Tesla attack
March 8, 2024, 3:12 p.m
After the arson attack on the power supply at the Tesla factory in Grünheide, a left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is now taking over the investigation. Accordingly, there is initial suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the investigation into the alleged arson attack on the power supply near the Tesla factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg. There is, among other things, initial suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization, unconstitutional sabotage and communal arson, said a spokeswoman in Karlsruhe. On Tuesday, a high-voltage pylon was set on fire, causing Tesla’s power supply to fail.
Afterwards, a letter of responsibility from the Vulkangruppe Tesla shutdown organization appeared on the left-wing extremist Internet platform Indymedia. The group stated: “We sabotaged Tesla today.” She also called for the “destruction of the Gigafactory” and accused the US electric car manufacturer of “extreme exploitation conditions” and contamination of groundwater in the region southeast of Berlin. The police classified the letter of confession as genuine.
According to police reports, unknown people set fire to a high-voltage pylon in a district of Gosen-Neu Zittau early on Tuesday morning, resulting in a power outage in numerous surrounding towns and in the nearby Tesla factory. An Edeka logistics center was also affected. Production at Tesla was interrupted and employees were sent home. On Thursday, “Bild” reported, citing company information, that production is expected to stop until the end of next week.
Damage in the “nine-figure range”
The managing director of the Tesla factory in Brandenburg, Andre Thierig, said after the alleged attack that the economic damage was in the “nine-digit range”. The police were deployed, among other things, with helicopters, drones, a police force and service dogs. Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke spoke of a “form of terrorism”.
In addition to the 300-hectare factory site, Tesla wants to build a freight yard, warehouses and a company kindergarten on an additional 170 hectares. To achieve this, more than a hundred hectares of forest are to be cleared in a landscape protection area. Opponents of the plant also criticize the high water consumption. A majority of residents in the community of Grünheide spoke out against expanding the Tesla site by 170 hectares in a citizen survey. The vote is not binding for the community.