Berlin blackout: How dangerous are left‑wing extremists?

According to security authorities, the assault on a gas‑fired power station in southwest Berlin was carefully planned. On Saturday, January 3, 2026, attackers deliberately destroyed cables using incendiary devices. The consequences were severe: cold apartments, dark streets, disrupted rail lines, and widespread internet outages.

Of the 45,000 households initially affected, two-thirds were still without electricity on Monday. Because of the extensive damage, repairs are expected to continue until Thursday.

Responsibility for the attack on the fossil‑fuel‑powered plant has been claimed by a left‑wing extremist network known as the "Volcano Group." Police and the Berlin Senate deem the claim credible. In a statement titled "Cutting Off the Rulers' Power," the group asserts that it "successfully sabotaged" the Lichterfelde gas plant.

In the letter, the group frames its motives in radical ecological terms, accusing society of exhausting and destroying the planet in its pursuit of energy. They maintain that widespread blackouts were not the intended outcome; rather, their aim was to strike at the fossil‑fuel industry. Experts, however, warn that the attack created a serious risk for uninvolved civilians — including the possibility of fatalities in hospitals where medical equipment lost power.

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Germany's domestic intelligence service has monitored the "Volcano Group" for years, but both its membership and organizational structure remain opaque. The group is thought to operate in a decentralized manner and is classified as "violence‑oriented" in the latest intelligence assessment.

In December, intelligence chief Sinan Selen warned of "worrying developments" in left‑wing extremism in an interview with the daily newspaper Die Welt.

The domestic intelligence report states: "In Berlin and Brandenburg, so-called Volcano groups have been carrying out arson attacks on critical infrastructure points at irregular intervals since 2011, often with noticeable impacts on the public."

Several attacks on Tesla facilities in Germany have drawn significant attention in recent years. In May 2021, unknown perpetrators carried out an arson attack at the company's Grünheide plant near Berlin. The most serious incident followed in March 2024, when the destruction of a high‑voltage pylon halted  production and cut power to nearby towns for days.

A "Volcano Group" also claimed responsibility for that attack. Intelligence reports outline the group's ideological rationale: Tesla is depicted as a symbol of a supposedly "totalitarian system" that must be opposed because of its technological expansion, environmental impact, and perceived oppression of people.

Left‑wing extremist attacks have not been limited to industrial sites. In 2020, a "Volcano Group" claimed responsibility for an arson attack on Berlin's Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, the Heinrich-Hertz-Institut ( HHI), accusing it of contributing to the development of aCOVID-19 tracking app. According to Berlin's intelligence service, such acts of sabotage are intended to expose the vulnerability of urban infrastructure, disrupt public order, and inflict significant material damage.

This article was originally written in German.

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