Left-wing militants known as the Volcano Group have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut electricity to about 45,000 homes and 2,200 businesses in southwest Berlin.
Authorities said the fire erupted Saturday on a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal near the Lichterfelde power plant.
❗️⚡️🇩🇪 – A major power outage hit southwest Berlin on January 3, 2026, after a suspected arson attack on a cable bridge over the Teltow Canal near the Lichterfelde power plant.
It affected about 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses in districts including Wannsee, Nikolassee,… pic.twitter.com/RfZFwkdn74
— 🔥🗞The Informant (@theinformant_x) January 4, 2026
A statement posted by the Volcano Group online said that the power station in Berlin’s Lichterfelde district had been “successfully sabotaged,” but added that “the fossil fuel economy was the target of the action, not power cuts.”
The group, protesting over climate and AI issues, called the strike “action in the public interest” and an “act of self-defence and international solidarity with all those who protect the earth and life.”
The group apologized to those less well-off who had been affected by the power cut, but added that its sympathy was limited “for the many villa owners” now in the dark.
In its 2024 annual security report, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency cited repeated attacks on the regional power grid by the Volcano Group, which it classifies as a left-wing extremist organization.
In September, a suspected arson attack on two pylons left about 50,000 households in Berlin without power, in what local media said resembled the Volcano Group’s high-profile 2024 attack on the Tesla gigafactory’s power supply in Grünheide.
