"The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999.... The Love Parade is no more. Organizer Rainer Schaller said it will never be held again"
Someone always has to wreck a good time.
"17 killed in panic at German festival" by Michael Sohn, Associated Press | July 25, 2010
BERLIN — A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans crushed 17 people to death and injured about 80 at Germany’s famed Love Parade festival on Saturday.
Is that any way to show love?
Thousands of other revelers keep partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly stampede that started when police tried to block thousands more people from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.
Police were trying to determine exactly what happened, but the situation was “very chaotic,’’ police commissioner Juergen Kieskemper said.
He said police closed off the area where the parade was being held because it was already crowded. They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction before the panic broke out, he said....
They probably thought the cops were coming to beat skulls like usual.
Duisburg city officials decided at a crisis meeting to let the parade go on to prevent more panic and another stampede, said city spokesman Frank Kopatschek. “The crisis meeting determined not to stop the event because at the moment there are too many people on the grounds,’’ he said.
The Love Parade was once an institution in Berlin, but has been held in the industrial Ruhr region of western Germany since 2007.
The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999. But it suffered from financial problems and tensions with city officials in later years, and eventually moved.
Kieskemper said that just before the stampede occurred at about 5 p.m., police closed off the area where the parade was being held because it was already overcrowded. They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction before the panic broke out, he said....
Yeah, I heard you the first time, MSM!!!
"Police, organizers trade blame for fatal crush at German fest" by Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press | July 26, 2010
DUISBURG, Germany — Throngs of techno fans followed the floats, the dancers, and the throbbing music to the festival venue, an old freight railway station that local media estimated could handle 300,000 people.
German media reported that as many as 1.4 million people showed up to the Love Parade, where a mass panic Saturday left 19 people crushed to death and 342 injured. Police blamed organizers and officials in Duisburg, an industrial city that gave the world’s largest techno music festival a home after it was driven from Berlin because of noise and overcrowding.
Witnesses, however, blamed police and private security staff, saying the panic broke out after they closed the end of a tunnel — the only entrance to the festival grounds — when the venue became too full. Police denied that and said they actually opened a second exit to disperse the masses before the accident happened.
It remained unclear yesterday what exactly triggered the panic, but it appeared that several people trying to escape the pushing crowds climbed up a steep metal stairway on a ramp in front of the tunnel and fell into the crowd. Amateur video footage showed thousands of festivalgoers crammed wall to wall, with some trying desperately to climb out....
Since the event was free, even the number of people who attended may never be known. Police did not confirm the 1.4 million estimate and suggested that it was much lower; railway service registered 105,000 as arriving in the city by train in the preceding hours.
One thing is clear: The Love Parade is no more. Organizer Rainer Schaller said it will never be held again out of respect for the victims.
“The Love Parade was always a peaceful event and a happy party,’’ but would forever be overshadowed by the tragedy, Schaller said at a news conference. He promised to cooperate with authorities who have launched an investigation.
Witnesses described a desperate scene, as people piled up on each other or scrambled over others who had fallen. TV images showed huge masses of people packed inside the wide tunnel and people struggling to escape up an embankment when the chaos broke out.
City officials chose not to evacuate the site, fearing it might spark more panic, and many people continued dancing, unaware of the deaths. Rescue workers carried away the injured as techno music thundered in the background.
Police said those killed were between the ages of 18 and 38 and include several foreigners, among them Spaniards, an Australian, an Italian, a Bosnian, a Chinese citizen, and a person from Holland....
Duisburg is a city of 500,000 in western Germany’s highly industrialized Ruhr region known for its coal mining and steel production. The region’s economy has declined in recent years and it has been trying to bolster its image on the cultural scene.
The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999. But it suffered from financial problems and tensions with Berlin officials in later years, and eventually moved.
MSM's German deja vu.
Local police and firefighters expressed concerns early on about whether Duisburg was big enough to host a million people or more, many of them possibly under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the “horrible, sad’’ turn of events and said everything must be done to ensure that such tragedies are not repeated. “I think we need an intense investigation now into how this happened,’’ she said yesterday.--more--"
And yet sometimes the Germans seem to get along so well.
"Culture fest tames teeming autobahn" by Associated Press | July 19, 2010
BERLIN — Tens of thousands of people sat at a 37-mile-long table for a cultural celebration....
A festival spokesman said an estimated 3 million people turned out amid fine weather....
--more--"
Maybe it was the music, huh?
Also see: Going to the Show
