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CRIME

Booze gets Karneval off to a violent start

Violence at the start of Cologne's bacchanalian Karneval celebration on Thursday evening was more intense than usual, police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia reported on Friday.

Booze gets Karneval off to a violent start
A Karneval goer's flair. Photo: DPA

Besides fist fights, some festival-goers employed the use of glass bottles in street scuffles, police said, adding that they’d attended to 1,167 incidents. By Friday morning authorities had tallied up 54 fights, 105 injuries and 123 arrests.

One 40-year-old man was also stabbed at the Neumarkt metro station.

Police said they believe the Jecken, or jokers as Karneval partiers are called, are drinking more alcohol than usual.

“It’s worse than ever,” police spokesperson Bruno Ethen said. “It is, after all, really cold outside.”

Some 61 people who tried to stay warm by drinking too much Schnapps were treated by emergency services, police reported.

Thursday evening began the Rhineland’s famously debaucherous street carnival. It’s known as Weiberfastnacht, which could be translated as Wenches’ Carnival. Reborn with the modern Karneval-era in 1823, this is traditionally the day when women run around snipping off the ties of men dumb enough to wear them. Supposedly they’re compensated for losing this symbol of their manhood with a kiss.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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