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Updated Thursday, July 29, 2010 10:45 am TWN, Reuters

Germans struggle to cope with 'Love Parade' tragedy

BERLIN -- The Love Parade death toll rose by one to 21 on Wednesday as Germans, who cherish order and organization, struggled to understand how such a tragedy could happen in their tightly regulated country.

A 25-year-old woman died from injuries suffered four days earlier in the stampede at the Love Parade on Saturday, when hordes of young people pushed through a tunnel into the techno festival area at a former freight rail yard in Duisburg. The mourning has turned into finger-pointing. Police have said local officials ignored warnings that Duisburg — population 500,000 — would be too small to host one million people at the Love Parade, while the organizers blamed police for letting too many into the railyard.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will interrupt her summer holiday to attend a memorial service on Saturday in Duisburg.

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August 2, 2010 gerrard@

The Love Parade tragedy is definitely something that could have been avoided only if the organizers were keen on their crowd control plans/ strategies. This event has been going on for several years and so far the event has been running without a hitch.

What went wrong this year? Is it the change of venue? Or was the crowd rowdier than the previous years? At any rate, whatever change implemented, this should not have happened. Memorials are now being offered to those who died. Germany and other countries are in mourning because of lives lost. What’s sad is that these people went to the Love Parade to show their love for music and for life. It is such an unfortunate event!


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