©Reuters. Workers at the Tesla plant near Berlin gather in front of the so-called Gigafactory to protest against an arson attack by far-left extremists that has caused a major power outage expected until the end of next week, in Gruenheide, near Berlin, March
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(This March 8 story was corrected to change weekly production capacity to 6,000 cars in paragraph 7)
By Oliver Barth
GRUENHEIDE, Germany (Reuters) – Tesla’s (NASDAQ:) German plant near Berlin will resume operations next week, the head of the works council said on Friday, after a power outage halted production.
The Tesla electric vehicle factory has been closed since March 5 after a fire broke out at a nearby electricity pylon, which police are investigating as an arson attack.
German police said they believed a letter from a far-left organization called the Volcano Group claiming responsibility for the fire was authentic.
“We will restart the factory next week,” Michaela Schmitz said in front of several hundred workers at the electric vehicle (EV) production site, known as the Gigafactory.
Some held a banner reading “We will not be closed!”
“Alongside many chapters of outstanding achievements, this attack will go down in history as a dark chapter. But even that will not stop us,” Schmitz said.
The attack has left the plant’s 12,500 employees in limbo and means the American electric vehicle maker is unable to produce around 6,000 vehicles a week, resulting in losses expected to be at least several hundred million euros.
The Tesla plant in Gruenheide has for years been the subject of criticism from some locals and activists, concerned about its environmental impact.
Schmitz said Tesla employees will receive information about the reboot soon, but he did not provide further details on the potential timing.
“Colleagues were condemned to stay at home, instead of successfully contributing to the energy transition together,” Schmitz added.
Tesla previously said the factory could be without electricity until the end of next week.
Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said on Friday it had taken over the investigation into the arson attack, looking into charges of terrorism and “unconstitutional sabotage.”