"35 killed, 42 injured in Shanghai stampede" Associated Press January 01, 2015
SHANGHAI — Thirty-five people were killed in a stampede during New Year’s Eve celebrations in downtown Shanghai, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
The news early Thursday cited the Shanghai government in saying that another 43 people were injured.
The deaths and injuries occurred at Shanghai’s popular riverfront Bund area, which can be jammed with spectators for major events.
One Xinhua photo from the scene showed at least one person doing chest compressions on a shirtless man while several other people lay on the ground nearby, amid debris. Another photo showed the area ringed by police.
The cause of the stampede remained under investigation, the Xinhua report said.
Shanghai’s historic Bund riverfront runs along an area of often narrow streets amid restored old buildings, shops, and tourist attractions. The China Daily newspaper in February reported that the city’s population was more than 24 million at the end of 2013.
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"Panic began Shanghai stampede, witnesses say" by David Barboza, New York Times January 02, 2015
SHANGHAI — Just before midnight Wednesday, a huge crowd that had gathered for an outdoor New Year’s Eve celebration in this city’s historic riverfront district began to grow unruly. There was pushing and shoving. And then, in an instant, a stampede began that would trample at least 36 people to death and injure dozens more.
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Most of the victims were young revelers who had come to ring in 2015 on the Bund, Shanghai’s iconic waterside promenade, one of Shanghai’s most popular tourist spots. Now elegantly restored, the buildings house banks, upscale restaurants, nightclubs, and five-star hotels.
Strange place for a stampede.
Like other major cities around the world, Shanghai has made its New Year’s Eve celebration a signature event, with light shows and performances late into the night.
See: The New Civil Rights Movement
This year’s big attraction was billed as a “5-D light show” that was supposed to project colorful blazes of light across the river, onto the city’s newest landmark, the 2,074-foot Shanghai Tower, the world’s second-tallest building after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
But many people who said they were milling around the Bund on Wednesday night believe the huge crowds that had gathered for this year’s event simply overwhelmed authorities and the event organizers in this city of 25 million.
A video posted on Youku.com appears to show an enormous mass of people pushing and yelling and crushing people under its weight.
The crowd may have been even larger than the 300,000 people the city said showed up a year ago, said attendees.
After the stampede, and the ensuing chaos as ambulances tried to reach the victims who were sprawled out in what is usually a busy traffic intersection, the light show was canceled. Police officers locked arms to close off an area for ambulances to get in. But for some, it was too late. Many victims died before reaching a hospital, authorities said.
On Thursday, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, ordered an immediate investigation. By Thursday afternoon, the police were looking into reports that a party in a building adjacent to Chen Yi Square may have contributed to the chaos when fake US $100 bills were tossed from above into the area.
In other words, this was an AMERIKAN PROVOCATION to create unrest in China!!
But several people who were at the scene dismissed that theory, saying the phony currency had nothing to do with the stampede. It was just a panic after several people fell and screamed, these witnesses said.
The $100s were still dropped; it's just my propaganda pre$$ minimizing such a thing, which is basically confirmation of an AmeriKan plot.
In China, New Year’s Eve celebrations are a relatively new affair, far less significant than the Chinese New Year celebrations that take place according to the traditional calendar. And yet, every year the crowds that gather in major Chinese cities on Dec. 31 seem to get bigger....
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Time to review:
"China orders review of safety rules after deadly New Year’s Eve stampede" Bloomberg News January 03, 2015
SHANGHAI — China demanded a review of crowd-safety procedures as dozens of people recuperated in Shanghai’s hospitals after a deadly stampede on New Year’s Eve killed 36 and caused the cancellation of celebrations across the city.
At least 49 people were injured, including 31 still serious enough to require hospitalization, the Shanghai government said on its website. The stampede — the city’s deadliest disaster since 2010 — started about 11:35 p.m. as tens of thousands of people crowded into the historic Bund riverside district for a light show.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an investigation and told local governments to prioritize safety ahead of the mass celebrations for the Lunar New Year holidays next month. The China National Tourism Administration issued an emergency notice requiring its local offices to establish procedures to control crowd flows at tourist spots.
He's reacting like AmeriKa!
While Shanghai authorities said they were still investigating the cause of the accident, eyewitnesses and family members of those injured described scenes where people were impeding the flow of traffic trying to escape the crowds, while others fell on top of each other at a pedestrian platform along the river.
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All those $100 bills must have gotten scooped up and hidden away from the propaganda pre$$, huh?
Related:
"Gas explosion at Chinese factory kills 17
BEIJING — A gas explosion at an auto parts factory in southern China killed 17 people and injured 33 others on Wednesday, state media reported. Three of the injured were in critical condition, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The Southern Metropolis Daily said witnesses heard three blasts at the Fuhua Engineering and Manufacturing Co. factory in Foshan city. The blasts destroyed the facility’s walls and ceiling and damaged a nearby glass factory and other plants. Xinhua said the factory was closed for cleaning at the time of the blast."
Looks like something has gone Zhongrong in China.
What, no follow-up?
