35,000 homes left without power in Berlin for days after 'left-wing activists' target power lines
Community centres and sports halls have been open for residents to take shelter amid freezing temperatures
Nearly 35,000 homes have been left without power in Berlin after left-wing extremists tampered with high-voltage power lines, officials say.
Listen to this article
Cables were damaged by a fire on Saturday on a bridge over the Teltow Canal, near the Lichterfelde power plant, local authorities said.
Community centres and sports halls have been opened for residents to take shelter amid freezing temperatures.
Stromnetz Berlin, which operates the local grid, said more than 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses were initially without electricity in the Nikolassee, Zehlendorf, Wannsee and Lichterfelde districts, in Berlin's southwest.
Read More: Danish PM tells Trump to stop 'threats' against Greenland
Power is not expected to be restored to all residents until Thursday.
The incident is being investigation as possibly an act of arson.
The perpetrators were "clearly left-wing extremists", Berlin's mayor Kai Wegner told a German news agency.
"It is unacceptable that once again clearly left-wing extremists have attacked our power grid and thereby endangered human lives," Mr Wegner said.
The city's senator for economic affairs, Franziska Giffey, said thwarting the power outage struck "tens of thousands of households and businesses, including care facilities, hospitals, numerous social institutions and companies".
Stromnetz Berlin issued an update that 35,000 households and 1,900 business customers in the Nikolassee, Zehlendorf and Wannsee districts are still without power in sub-zero temperatures.