BBC reports that a gang of extremists who call themselves the Volcano Group published a letter online saying they purposely tried to sabotage the factory's production over environmental and labor reasons.
Around 100 far-left militants have been camping out in a forest around the factory to try and prevent a plan for expansion that would involve cutting down trees in the area. These groups have not explicitly expressed involvement in the fire.
While the factory itself did not catch fire, an electricity pylon nearby did, which led to power outages in the factory and towns nearby. Factory employees were sent home but Tesla said that its building was in a "safe state." However plant manager Andre Thierig stated production will likely be halted until next week and added that the outage would cost "in the high nine-digit Euro range" after two power lines into the plant were damaged.
Elon Musk called the supposed stunt "extrem dumm," or extremely stupid, on X.
"These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they're puppets of those who don't have good environmental goals," he said.
"The rule of law will react to such an act of sabotage with the utmost severity," said Interior Minister for Brandenburg state Michael Stuebgen after the attack took place.
