In a letter posted on-line, the intense leftist Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) claimed accountability for the fireplace at Musk’s Gigafactory.
“We sabotaged Tesla,” the letter learn, calling the fireplace a “present” for March 8 — Worldwide Girls’s Day. The letter described the assault on the manufacturing facility and “technofascists” reminiscent of Musk as a step towards “liberation from patriarchy.”
Authorities are checking the authenticity of the letter.
Musk tweeted that “these are both the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those that don’t have good environmental objectives.”
Emergency companies have been referred to as within the early hours of Tuesday after reviews of a burning transmission tower near the positioning of the electrical automotive producer. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, however native residents have been with out electrical energy for a number of hours.
In an announcement, Tesla mentioned that the manufacturing services have been in a “secure state” and that employees have been despatched house. The manufacturing cease pushed Tesla inventory into the purple, nonetheless, with shares at a 2.5 p.c loss in premarket buying and selling on Wall Road.
Inside Minister Nancy Faeser mentioned such an assault on Germany’s electrical energy infrastructure is a “critical crime that can not be justified by something.”
“If a left-wing extremist motive is confirmed, then that is additional proof that the left-wing extremist scene doesn’t shrink back from assaults on important vitality infrastructure,” she warned.
The blackout got here as Tesla assesses its plans to increase its solely European web site by 170 hectares (420 acres) and double manufacturing to as many as 1 million vehicles per 12 months.
The growth has been met with criticism from native residents and environmentalists, nonetheless. Since Thursday, dozens of protesters have constructed treehouses and occupied a part of a forest that must be razed to make approach for the challenge. Native residents additionally rejected the plans in a nonbinding February poll.
The electrical automotive maker, which started manufacturing on the web site in 2022 after an uphill two-year approval and development course of, isn’t any stranger to opposition within the space.
In 2021, the identical Volcano Group was suspected of finishing up an arson assault on the ability provide on the Tesla development web site. On the time, the group accused Tesla of not being environmentally aware.