In June 2016, the festival Rock am Ring took place on the airfield at Mendig. On the Friday evening, lightning injured a total of 71 people, according to the Red Cross. The organizers interrupted the festival after a crisis meeting with the interior minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Roger Lewentz. Wir müssen alles dafür tun, dass keine neuen Verletzten hinzukommen, Lewentz said. We must do everything so that no more people are injured. Because another storm was expected for Sunday afternoon, the Verbandsgemeinde, the local association of municipalities, then withdrew the organizers’ permit to continue the festival. About 90,000 visitors had come. The concert promoter Marek Lieberberg spoke of höhere Gewalt, an act of God. He accused Lewentz of having pushed the responsibility for the cancellation onto the municipality. A spokesman for the interior ministry replied that Lewentz had already demanded that the event be stopped the day before.