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Two shootings in Berlin over weekend

Berlin police are investigating separate shootings that left two young men seriously injured on Saturday and Sunday. Both occurred in the early hours of the morning.

Published: 7 October 2012 14:32 CEST
Two shootings in Berlin over weekend
Photo: DPA

At around 6:30am, a 23-year-old man was shot in the central Alexanderplatz area. He was found lying in a doorway at the train station with life threatening injuries by passersby. Police said that the bullet went through his groin.

Paramedics were called to the scene and the victim was taken to one of the capital city’s hospitals, where he received emergency surgery. He was reported to be in a critical condition.

The identity of the attacker is not known – nor is the motive behind the shooting. An investigation has been launched.

The attack came around just 24 hours after another man was shot elsewhere in the city. A 22-year-old was returning from a party at 5am when the group he was with was approached by a stranger.

An argument broke out and the attacker pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the air. The seven-strong group of friends tried to carry on walking but the young Berliner was shot in the stomach as he left.

Police are appealing for witnesses, and have been asking taxi drivers working in the Schöneberg area at the time if they say anything. So far, no clues have emerged.

DPA/DAPD/The Local/jcw

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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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