Overview
- The mayor acknowledged playing tennis from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on January 3, with the Senate Chancellery confirming his partner was Education Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch.
- Operators reported the outage stemmed from a suspected arson attack on a cable bridge claimed by the left‑wing group Vulkangruppe, initially cutting power to about 45,000 households and ultimately affecting roughly 100,000 people.
- Wegner had first said he spent the day coordinating from his home office, later conceding the break and asserting he remained reachable and should have disclosed it sooner.
- After a special meeting, the CDU parliamentary group largely defended his crisis management and emphasized reviewing the blackout response and protecting critical infrastructure.
- Opposition leaders from the Greens, SPD, FDP, and AfD condemned his conduct and some demanded his resignation, while SPD Senator Franziska Giffey voiced criticism and the police union argued a brief pause was understandable.