Power restored to thousands of Berlin households after attack on lines causes several-day outage

BERLIN (AP) — Power was being restored on Wednesday to thousands of households in Berlin that had been without electricity in freezing temperatures for four days following a suspected far-left attack on high-voltage lines, authorities said.

About 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses lost their supply on Saturday morning after a fire on a bridge that carries high-voltage cables over the Teltow Canal, in the southwest of the German capital, affecting an estimated 100,000 people.

Authorities were able gradually to reconnect many to the network, but several days of work were required to repair the damage. Some 25,500 households and 1,200 businesses were still without power on Tuesday, largely in the prosperous Zehlendorf district.

It was the longest blackout in the city since the end of World War II.

Berlin's power network operator said service was gradually being restored Wednesday to all remaining households, German news agency dpa reported.

Investigators have focused on a written claim of responsibility by a far-left group, headlined “Turning off the juice to the rulers,” which said a gas-fired power plant in Berlin's Lichterfelde district had been “successfully sabotaged.” It claimed that the aim of the action was to strike the fossil-fuel energy industry, not to cause power outages.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency said self-styled “Volcano Groups” have been carrying out attacks on infrastructure in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg since 2011. A 2024 attack on a pylon that supplies a Tesla factory near Berlin temporarily halted production.

On Tuesday, the German federal prosecutor's office said it was taking over the investigation, citing suspicions of anticonstitutional sabotage, membership in a terrorist organization and arson.

FILE - Steam leaves a cooling tower of the Lichterfelde gas-fired power plant near a cable bridge crossing the Teltow canal in Berlin, Germany, on March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Staff of the S-Bahn security stand in front of the closed public transport station 'Wannsee' in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2025, during a power cut in south-west Berlin after a fire on a cable bridge. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Passers-by stand in the light of a fire department help point in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2025, during a power cut in south-west Berlin after a fire on a cable bridge. (Christoph Gollnow/dpa via AP)

A man was arrested on Thursday after threatening an attack on a high-speed train in Germany, police said. Several people were slightly injured when firecrackers were set off.

The train was en route from Cologne to Frankfurt on Thursday evening. It was evacuated in Siegburg, not far from Cologne, and federal police said the man was restrained and arrested, German news agency dpa reported. They said he had a knife in his backpack.

The man had shut himself in a bathroom on the train, according to police. German newspaper Bild reported that the firecrackers were thrown into an aisle. Police said several people sustained superficial flesh wounds.

There was no immediate information on the suspect.

Police officers stand on a platform at Siegburg station, where a Deutsche Bahn ICE train is parked, in Siegburg, Germany, early Friday, April 3, 2026, after a man was arrested Thursday after threatening an attack on a high-speed train. (Roberto Pfeil/dpa via AP)

A police officer stands on a platform at Siegburg station where a Deutsche Bahn ICE train is parked, in Siegburg, Germany, early Friday, April 3, 2026, after a man was arrested on Thursday after threatening an attack on a high-speed train. (Roberto Pfeil/dpa via AP)

A policewoman stands on a platform at Siegburg station, where a Deutsche Bahn ICE train is parked, in Siegburg, Germany, early Friday, April 3, 2026, after a man was arrested on Thursday after threatening an attack on a high-speed train. (Roberto Pfeil/dpa via AP)