14 DAY TRIAL // The legendary Love Parade, celebrating love and peace through music, will never be held again after a tragic accident cost 19 people their lives, while 340 others were injured. A stampede occurred in a tunnel that was the only entrance and exit to the venue where the techno festival was taking place and, because of overcrowding, ended tragically, the New York Daily News reports.
About 1.4 million people attended the Love Parade, an amazing festival that was always held as the symbol of peace, harmony and, as its very name implies, love. Held in Duisberg, this year, the festival turned out tragically, when a stampede started at the mouth of the tunnel that facilitated access to the venue. Reports say that most of the victims tried to reach safety by climbing a metal stairway, wherefrom they fell into the crowd and were stamped to death.
“After two decades promoting peace through music, Germany’s Love Parade has ended in death and mayhem. Organizer Rainer Schaller pulled the plug on the Love Parade on Sunday, a day after 19 people died and 340 more were hurt in a stampede at the huge techno music festival. ‘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’,” the NY Daily News writes.
“The parade drew 1.4 million music lovers to Duisberg. Police originally blamed the deaths on overcrowding at the entrance tunnel to the former freight rail station. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an ‘intensive investigation.’ ‘We must do everything we can to ensure that something like this never happens again,’ she said,” the same media outlet further informs.
An investigation is now underway. Reports say many people are targeted in it, though no names have been released to the press. According to the British publication the Daily Mail, the organizers may also be to blame for not taking into consideration the overcrowding factor. Moreover, they reportedly told DJ Mark Knight to keep playing his set even when they had learned that people were dying a few feet away.
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