After an attack on Tesla’s power supply, the repair work is expected to end more quickly. Brandenburg’s economics minister is warning against demonstration tourism.
After the attack on the power supply at the car manufacturer Tesla in Grünheide near Berlin, repair work could be completed much earlier than previously assumed. The responsible network operator Edis and Tesla were confident about this. Meanwhile, Brandenburg’s Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach criticized the demonstrations against an expansion of the plant.
Power supply could be guaranteed more quickly
“Due to the extraordinarily quick assembly work and the excellent cooperation of all the companies involved in the construction, there is now a chance of an early resupply of the Giga Factory and the logistics center in the evening hours of tomorrow, Monday,” said the responsible network operator Edis on Sunday evening. The result of a high-voltage measurement that is to be carried out this Monday is crucial for the resupply.
“The Giga Factory is still without power. We are currently waiting for the factory to be connected to the power grid again,” Tesla said on Monday. Due to the network operator’s repair progress, this could be the case on Monday evening. The systems could then be gradually started up again. It is currently impossible to say how long it will take until production can fully resume.
About a week ago, previously unknown perpetrators set fire to a freely accessible electricity pylon in a field, which is also responsible for supplying the Tesla factory. Production at the car factory came to a standstill. The left-wing extremist “Vulkan Group” had declared that it was responsible for the attack.
Far-left group apologizes to households
On Saturday she took another stand on the attack and defended it. “The total failure of a seemingly unassailable giant should bring tears of joy to all of our eyes and give us courage, beyond the pressure that weighs on us,” said the published text. The activists also apologized for the collateral damage of the action. “There is only one thing for which we would like to expressly apologize. We saw no way to carry out the action without leaving around 5,000 households and small businesses without power for five hours.”
Steinbach sees “demonstration tourism”
Brandenburg’s Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) praised the companies involved on Monday morning on RBB Inforadio, who had “worked in three shifts” to restore supplies. At the same time, he criticized demonstrations against a planned expansion of the electric car factory, which also took place at the weekend. “This worries me because it was clearly evident here that there was demonstration tourism,” said the minister.
“We are also experiencing this at the camp, where people from Lower Saxony, from Lützerath, from Hambacher Forst are there. At the moment this whole thing is being hijacked from outside.” This should not be in the interests of the residents.
The minister emphasized that false arguments will continue to be used to create sentiment against Tesla. “Those who are protesting there at the moment should then tell their fellow human beings very clearly that they want to continue to see increased truck traffic.”
The electric car manufacturer wants to build a freight station, warehouses and a company kindergarten in addition to the existing 300-hectare factory site. To achieve this, more than 100 hectares of forest will be cleared.
Economics Minister against further toleration of the protest camp
Environmental activists demonstrated on Sunday in Grünheide against the expansion plans, accompanied by police forces. In addition, the occupation of a forest not far from the factory has been going on for more than ten days. On Monday, Steinbach spoke out in favor of not extending the camp’s toleration beyond the middle of the month.
So far the police have allowed the camp until March 15th. Environmental activists have announced that they will not voluntarily leave the occupied forest next to the factory for the time being. A spokeswoman for the “Stop Tesla” initiative made it clear that the protest would last indefinitely. When asked whether they wanted to be cooperative in the event of an impending eviction, she said: “We will stay until we are sure that the forest and the water will no longer be sold to Tesla.”
The Tesla settlement also received support over the weekend: Some residents who support the company also took to the streets. At times there was verbal friction between the two demonstration camps.
Source: Stern