Germany's Love Parade ends in tragedy

[Refugee 7]

A stampede Saturday (7/24) at the massive German electronic-music festival the Love Parade resulted in 19 deaths and at least 340 injuries.

Love Parade organizer Rainer Schaller said during a news conference a day after the tragedy that he is cooperating with investigators who are looking into the cause of the chaotic turn of events.

The event has a long history in Europe. It debuted in Berlin in 1989, and moved to larger venues as it grew. This year's festival took place for the first time in the city of Duisburg.

"The Love Parade was always a peaceful and joyous party that will now forever be overshadowed," Schaller said. "Out of respect for the victims, families and friends, we will discontinue the event. The Love Parade is no more."

Organizers had claimed that about 1.4 million people were on hand for the festival, though local authorities reportedly believe the number was much smaller; most estimates were in the 600,000 range.

It is so far unclear what led to the stampede. Police at first said they believed the deaths were result the overcrowding of an entrance tunnel, but authorities later said that no one died inside the tunnel. Rather, it appears that something set off a panic outside the entrance to the tunnel.

The festival continued after the tragedy because law enforcement officials were afraid of creating a panic.

According to reports, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in calling for an investigation into the incident, said, "We must do everything we can to ensure that something like this never happens again."

Electronic-music festivals have been under greater scrutiny in the U.S.; the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission has instituted a temporary ban on such concerts at venues owned by the city after a 15-year-old girl died of a suspected drug overdose at that city's Electric Daisy Carnival. About 100 people were hospitalized during the event.

Three previously scheduled large-scale rave events in Los Angeles will be allowed to go forward, with restrictions including an 18-and-over age limit, enforced by ID checks.

Insomniac Events, which put on the Electric Daisy Carnival, recently announced that it was enforcing an 18-and-up age policy at all of its events. The company hosted the Audiotistic 2010 festival in San Bernardino, CA, over the weekend, and no major problems were reported at that event.

[Echosoftom 3]

Wow! How tragic.