Giga Berlin attacked by activist group

After a fire at the Tesla plant in Grünheide on Wednesday night, when power cables were set on fire, a letter of confession was sent to media from the “Vulkangruppe”, or ‘volcano group’ as they call themselves. The group claims their actions are because Tesla is “neither green, ecological, nor social”.

The fire itself was not too damaging, and the fire brigade was able to extinguish the fire near the construction site for Giga Berlin before nightfall on Wednesday. Around 2:40 a.m., the regional control centre was informed about the small fire, which was found burning on an area of about 3 m² about 500 metres from the construction site.

Initially, police was unsure as to whether a crime had taken place at all but, did not exclude politically motivated arson, meaning the Brandenburg State Protection Service was also involved.

At noon, a letter of confession from the “volcano group” was published on the platform Indymedia.org. “Tesla is neither green, ecological nor social,” it says. “Our fire stands against the lie of the green automobile.” A spokesperson for the Brandenburg State Criminal Police Office stated that the letter was being checked for authenticity.

The letter itself says: “We cut the power supply to the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin in the night of 25 to 26 May 2021 by setting fire to six high-voltage cables laid above ground. Tesla is neither green, ecological nor social. Tesla is a corporation that practices overexploitation worldwide, destroys livelihoods, and uses and manufactures colonial relations of exploitation. Our fire stands against the lie of the green automobile.” The aim was to sabotage the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory.

The police are currently checking the authenticity of the letter, but initial investigations already assume that it was an attack. According to the German state news broadcaster RBB, the Grünheide citizens’ initiative that critically accompanies the construction of the Tesla factory, condemns violent actions at the construction site of the US electric car manufacturer but also said that it considers such a thing possible.

teslarati.com,  de.indymedia.org (letter of confession in German), rbb24.de (in German)