Germany’s Love Parade festival will never be held again after 19 killed, 342 injured in crush

[Turborama]

Source: AP

DUISBURG, Germany — The organizer of the Love Parade says the yearly techno music festival will never be held again after 19 people were killed and 342 were injured in a panicked crush in an entrance tunnel.

Authorities faced tough questions at a press conference over why hundreds of thousands of people were funneled through a single highway underpass. They provided few details.

German media reported that there were at least 1.4 million people there.

Witnesses said the crush began after officers closed the end of the tunnel emptying onto the festival grounds after they become overcrowded around 5 p.m. The entrance to the tunnel did not appear to have been closed and people continued piling in.

Rainer Schaller says it’s “over for the Love Parade.”

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. (AP’s earlier story on the tragedy is also at the link)

Read more: http://calamities.gaeatimes.com/2010/07/25/germanys-love-parade-festival-will-never-be-held-again-after-19-killed-342-injured-in-crush-37920/

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Duisburg officials have few answers for causes of Love Parade deaths

As an investigation attempts to shed light on what caused a deadly stampede at the Love Parade dance music festival in Duisburg on Saturday, city officials have faced tough questions over the tragedy.

Duisburg Deputy Police Chief Detlef von Schmeling told reporters on Sunday that two criminal reports were pending on the incident, but he could not confirm whether the organizers or emergency services would be implicated in the investigation.

=snip=

'Over for the Love Parade'

Love Parade organizer Rainer Schaller said the Love Parade would never be held again, and that every effort would be taken to find the cause of Saturday afternoon's tragic events. "Words are not enough to describe the extent of the shock I feel," Schaller said.

Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland was similarly rocked by the deadly stampede. "I can't dress up my grief with words," he said. "This misfortune is so gruesome that it can't be described with words."

Full article: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5835760,00.html


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These videos give a sense of the panic that was going on there...

Massenpanik bei der Love Parade 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPkemW3ixC4

LOVEPARADE 2010 Duisburg Massenpanik mittendrin 17:15 Uhr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SDOjtkAZAk

More videos http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=love+parade&search_sort=video_date_uploaded&suggested_categories=10,24&page=1">here.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Shades of The Who concert in Cincinnati - 1979...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_The_Who_concert_disaster

The 1979 Who concert disaster took place at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 3, 1979, as part of the band's U.S. tour, the first in three years. That performance was marred by tragedy when eleven fans (Peter Bowes, 18; Teva Ladd, 27; David Heck, 19; Connie Burns, 18; James Warmoth, 21; Bryan Wagner, 17; Karen Morrison, 15; Jacqueline Eckerle, 15; Walter Adams, Jr., 22; Stephan Preston, 19; Phillip Snyder, 20) were killed by compressive asphyxia and several dozen others injured in the rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out concert of 18,348 (3,578 reserved seats, 14,770 general admission seats) people by the performance.

The concert was using "festival seating", (also known as "general seating"), where the best seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Due to the festival seating, many fans arrived early. When the crowds waiting outside heard the band performing a late sound check, they thought that the concert was beginning and tried to rush into the still-closed doors. Some at the front of the crowd were trampled as those pushing from behind were unaware that the doors were still closed. Only a few doors were in operation that night, and there are reports that management did not open more doors due to union restrictions and the concern of people sneaking past the ticket turnstiles.

The band members would later find out about the incident after their performance ended. Soon after the tragedy, the victims' families sued the band, promoter, and the city until the lawsuit was settled. The result was that festival seating was banned in Cincinnati for 25 years, with minor exceptions.

This incident was the subject of a second season episode of WKRP in Cincinnati called "In Concert."

Poor crowd management techniques in both cases...:(

[LostinVA]

3. My first thought, too n/t

[slampoet]

5. The Tunnel reminded me of the deaths at Mecca back in 1990

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_during_the_Hajj#Failures_in_crowd_control

July 2, 1990 : A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel (Al-Ma'aisim tunnel) leading out from Mecca towards Mina, Saudi Arabia and the Plains of Arafat led to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims.


Looks like tunnels are the real problem though the officers really should have know to close both ends at once and let people drain in only out but in both directions.

[shrike]

15. I attended the first Who concert after Cincinnati

Security was VERY tight and everything moved VERY slowly. We were practically walking single file at some points, and I thought we were never going to get in there.

But I most remember how nervous and upset the band was during that performance. Entwhistle and Townsend interrupted the concert at least twice and asked everybody not to rush the stage the way they were doing. They also asked everyone on the main floor to please take "one step back." I remember Daltrey leaning down at one point and asking people directly in front of the stage if they were feeling well and doing okay. It wasn't a throwaway question, he seemed genuinely concerned. (and you know, they were such fantastic musicians they STILL put on a great show.)

So I have sympathy for the performers who took part in this festival. Even though they likely had no part in crowd control plans, anyone with an ounce of humanity is likely devastated. And I wonder if they are thinking, "some of those who died might have made the trip to see me." :(

[Bennyboy]

2. This is CRAP, a big bunch of idiots blaming the music...

Not their malfeasance in poor planning and procedures. Same as the Who thing. This is on the promoters and the planners of the event, not the people or the music.

Had they prepared and not only had ONE entrance for a million people, this never would have happened.

But no it is easier to take the event way than accept blame for your own crap.

IF I were the people, next year, on the same date, in the same facility, i would just stage a guerrilla event in memory of those that were killed.

[AzNick]

4. Poor event organizing

Something similar happened to me when I was 15 at a U2 concert. Idiots in the back started pushing and as I was in the front I got crushed.

Security managed to control the crowd somewhat by simply pulling pushers at random and giving them to the cops. This calmed things a little.

But in a tunnel, nobody can see what is happening, unfortunately.

[Bennyboy]

6. Well that is different...

This is about adequate access and egress. Simple. Providing enough for the massive crowd.

The people in charge of the planning should be tried for manslaughter.

[AzNick]

7. Victims of the success of the event

You can't always think about everything and you can't always prevent tragedies from happening with this type of free event.

I would never organize a free event myself. I'd love to work on big paid events, be part of the planning, but never would I think of working on this type of event.

And we're talking about Germans, people who don't cross the street when the little guy sign is red.

[dipsydoodle]

13. Not only that

In this instance the tunnel was the ONLY entrance/exit.

[AzNick]

14. A terrorist's wet dream

Imagine if a bomb had been set off and people had started to run towards the exit? On top of that, with no escape out of the grounds, a terrorist or a crazy shooter could have done so much damage on a tight crowd with only one small option to leave the grounds.

What surprises me is that organizers never learn. Examples abound of night club tragedies where people were trapped as they only had one emergency exit and basically got crushed, burned or asphixiated because of it.

I have never organized an event myself, but, seriously shouldn't common sense prevail?

[teknomanzer]

16. Terrorism is the establisment's wet dream...

You are quite right that such events would be a terrorist's wet dream. There are many large events that would make great targets, and yet terrorist attacks in more stable parts of the world are in fact quite rare. Its all hype. The corporate media is constantly feeding you this fear based nonsense that you are in constant danger. Depending on where you live statistically you are more likely to die from some self induced disease than a terrorist attack. But still here you are contemplating the eventuality of such an attack. Its about the same as being constantly worried about being crushed by a falling grand piano. Be wary of those who are feeding you this fear diet - they are using this hyped up sense of danger to establish more control over our lives.

[Dappleganger]

8. The police caused this problem...

they blocked off the entrance of the tunnel and then people were crushed.

[AngryAmish]

9. Who wants to organize a "Really, Really Like" festival next year in Germany?

It seems the field is open.

[tabasco]

10. They'll call it something else and change the location.

[Matariki]

11. No!

[superconnected]

12. Very sad to hear about this. The deaths and the cancellation of the festival.

Really I would think they'd spend more time on making better rules for holding festivals than canceling the festival as if it is the problem.

[sui generis]

17. That's a ridiculous pronouncement

but and as a dour Kraut myself, I can say this, that's so german to go straight for the time on sprockets when we don't dance.

Seriously, it was a mind boggling tragedy, but the Love parade itself will continue whether or not the current organizer continues to be the event's organizer next year.

Analyze what went wrong. Then fix it. The event itself isn't what 'went wrong'. That's my zwei pfennigs on the topic.