Berlin mayor under fire for playing tennis during blackout

BERLIN

Berlin mayor Kai Wegner is facing mounting criticism for playing tennis during his city’s power outage, media reports said Thursday.

“The mayor was playing tennis even though he already knew that 45,000 Berlin households were in an emergency situation without heat and light and that people were in danger,” said Green Party faction leader in Berlin’s state parliament, Werner Graf, on the US social media company X. ​​​​​​​

Even Wegner's coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), strongly criticized the mayor’s behavior during the crisis situation.

“Kai Wegner probably wasn't playing tennis at home in his locked study. I don't know what's worse: that he lied to the people of Berlin or that a game of tennis was more important to him than being there for the people affected after a terrorist attack during the worst power crisis in decades. Both are unacceptable and unworthy of a governing mayor," said Steffen Krach, the designated chairman of the SPD in the state of Berlin.

Wegner’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party faction was scheduled to discuss the five-day-long power outage in a conference call on Thursday morning.

Berlin's mayor was reportedly slated to take part in the meeting to discuss his controversial tennis match just hours after the start of the blackout.

Wegner was reportedly playing tennis while thousands were left without power following a Jan. 3 arson attack, German public broadcaster RBB reported Wednesday.

The report said Wegner played tennis between 1 pm and 2 pm on the first day of the outage.

Wegner confirmed the report to Welt TV, saying he played tennis to clear his head, kept his mobile phone switched on, and resumed work immediately afterward.

Meanwhile, at a news conference on Jan. 4, Wegner said on the first day of the outage, he stayed at home and in his office with the doors closed, spending the entire day on the phone coordinating the crisis.

The revelation that Wegner was playing tennis, contrary to his earlier statements, further fueled public anger.

Opposition parties accused Wegner of misleading the public and failing to show leadership during the crisis, while explanations from the state government failed to calm criticism.