GERMANY: Original Love Parade founder, Matthias Roeingh, blames organisers of Duisburg event for stampede tragedy

Record ID: 449630

  • Title: GERMANY: Original Love Parade founder, Matthias Roeingh, blames organisers of Duisburg event for stampede tragedy
  • Date: 26th July 2010
  • Summary: PEOPLE LAYING FLOWERS AS OTHERS WATCH AND STAND IN SILENCE CRYING WOMAN LOOKING AT CANDLES CANDLES ON GROUND WITH SIGN READING IN GERMAN "WHY?" WOMAN COMFORTING CRYING GIRL OLDER PEOPLE LOOKING ON / WOMAN CRYING YOUTHS LIGHTING CANDLES POLICEMEN OUTSIDE TUNNEL SIGN READING "19 DECEASED - WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN? R.I.P. 24 JULY 2010 - MY CONDOLENCES TO THE FRIENDS AND FAMILIES OF THE DEAD" PEOPLE LOOKING AT CANDLES
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA58PP32XBQ5RS2FUABTISI2W44
  • Story Text: The organisers are to blame for the deaths of at least 19 people at the German Love Parade, said the man who organised the first techno festival in 1989, Berlin disc jockey "Dr. Motte."
    51-year-old Matthias Roeingh, who calls himself Dr. Motte, said in an interview with Reuters Television on Sunday (July 25) that "it's really tragic to me and I must say, the organisers are guilty actually."
    "I was reflecting and I was looking to Berlin (where the Love Parade originated) and what we have done and what is now in Duisburg and I must say, it's really a sad thing to see that people only want to make money out of the whole thing," Dr. Motte added.
    Roeingh said the organisers "don't give people enough space to be there and celebrate the whole thing and it's all like squeezed together in a very small street and in a tunnel and then it was collapsing."
    In Duisburg, where at least 19 people died a day earlier, including 4 foreigners and over 300 were injured, hundreds of people came to lay flowers and light candles.
    While one hand-written sign simply read "why?," the author of another expressed in broken German "my condolences to the friends and families of the dead."
    According to local police, a Dutch, an Australian, an Italian and a Chinese national were so far among the identified victims.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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