GRUENHEIDE, Germany, March 8 (Reuters) - Tesla's

German plant near Berlin, which has been down since

March 5 because far-left extremists carried out an arson attack

on a near-by power pylone, will resume operations next week, the

head of the plant's works council said on Friday.

"We will restart the factory next week," Michaela Schmitz

told a gathering of workers at the production site, known as a

Gigafactory, adding that employees would receive information

about the restart soon.

She did not provide additional information on the potential

timing of a restart.