- Title: GERMANY: Love Parade organisers defend their actions after deadly stampede
- Date: 28th July 2010
- Summary: DUISBURG, GERMANY (JULY 27, 2010) (REUTERS) PHOTO OF VICTIMS
- Embargoed: 12th August 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVAF34VZXDCXT9SMRKL1YK6TDYF5
- Story Text: Organisers of the German Love Parade music festival continued to defend their actions on Tuesday (July 27) three days after 20 people were killed during a mass panic at the event.
"We installed 16 controlled gates at the west end of the tunnel to make sure that the flow of visitors could be controlled. After talking to the police, we closed 10 of the 16 gates on the west side because the tunnel was threatening to overflow. Going by the information we have at the moment, the police leaders gave the order to open all 16 gates at a later time. We don't know why this order was given," Love Parade organiser Rainer Schaller told reporters in a statement on Tuesday.
The revellers died when panic broke out at the techno music festival on Saturday (July 24) in the western city near the Dutch border. Many Germans were baffled that such a tragedy could occur in their highly organised and closely regulated country.
Chancellor Angela Merkel expects a "scrupulously thorough" investigation into the tragedy, her spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin. Authorities earlier raised the number of injured to 511, including 43 seriously hurt, one in critical condition.
Eight foreigners -- from Spain, Bosnia, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and China -- were among those killed when young people pushed through an underpass into the techno festival grounds at a former freight rail yard.
Investigators were looking at possible charges of negligent homicide. The state prosecutor in Duisburg has said that they will examine the security plans -- and why an event set up for 250,000 people ended up with between 500,000 and 1 million.
Schaller said that he and his team would help in any way that they could.
"We, the organisers of the Love Parade will do everything we can to support the prosecutors in finding a complete and wholehearted clarification," he said.
The Love Parade originated in Berlin, with a population of 3.4 million, and was held in a giant park in Germany's largest city until 2006. Duisburg has a population of 500,000.
Authorities have not yet been able to explain how exactly the tragedy happened -- near a tunnel that led to a ramp into the festival grounds. Most of the victims were found dead on the ramp and none in the tunnel, authorities said.
Grim pictures and video clips of people being crushed dominated front pages and news broadcasts on Monday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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