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CRIME

Police woman kills kids and takes own life

A young policewoman has strangled her two children, aged five and 10, and then killed herself in Brandenburg, police announced on Tuesday.

Published: 8 June 2010 13:10 CEST
Police woman kills kids and takes own life
Photo: DPA

The body of the 32-year-old officer, her five-year-old son and her 10-year-old daughter were found in their home Monday in Oranienburg just north of Berlin, the authorities said.

“It’s a matter of a personal tragedy,” state prosecutor Andreas Pelzer said. “So far we have no evidence that the crime had causes relating to her occupation.”

He refused to go into much detail about how the deaths happened, partly out of concern for the family. But the head of the serious crimes branch said all three had died of strangulation, adding that more details would emerge through post-mortems being held in Potdam.

The woman lived alone with her children. She had not been on leave, Pelzer said. Regarding the discovery of the bodies, he said only that they had been found by people associated with the woman.

No suicide note was found, Pelzer said.

Police from the Ostprignitz-Ruppin are now investigating the background to the crime.

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BERLIN

Tesla’s factory near Berlin gets approval for extension despite protests

Tesla has confirmed its plans to extend its production site outside Berlin had been approved, overcoming opposition from residents and environmental activists.

Published: 17 May 2024 08:54 CEST
Tesla's factory near Berlin gets approval for extension despite protests

The US electric car manufacturer said on Thursday it was “extremely pleased” that local officials in the town of Grünheide, where the factory is located, had voted to approve the extension.

Tesla opened the plant – its only production location in Europe – in 2022 at the end of a tumultuous two-year approval and construction process.

The carmaker had to clear a series of administrative and legal hurdles before production could begin at the site, including complaints from locals about the site’s environmental impact.

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

Plans to double capacity to produce a million cars a year at the site, which employs some 12,000 people, were announced in 2023.

The plant, which already occupies around 300 hectares (740 acres), was set to be expanded by a further 170 hectares.

But Tesla had to scale back its ambitions to grow the already massive site after locals opposed the plan in a non-binding poll.

The entrance to the Tesla factory in Brandenburg.

The entrance to the Tesla factory in Brandenburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Lutz Deckwerth

Their concerns included deforestation required for the expansion, the plant’s high water consumption, and an increase in road traffic in the area.

In the new proposal, Tesla has scrapped plans for logistics and storage centres and on-site employee facilities, while leaving more of the surrounding forest standing.

Thursday’s council vote in Grünheide drew strong interest from residents and was picketed by protestors opposing the extension, according to German media.

Protests against the plant have increased since February, and in March the plant was forced to halt production following a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines claimed by a far-left group.

Activists have also built makeshift treehouses in the woodland around the factory to block the expansion, and environmentalists gathered earlier this month in their hundreds at the factory to protest the enlargement plans.

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