Tragedy at Germany's Love Parade: As death toll rises, organizers disband event

At least 19 people reportedly died at the Love Parade, a well-known dance event in the German city of Duisburg, and more than 340 were said to be injured as the apparent closure of a gate resulted in a suffocating crush of people. Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland was quoted in German press as saying the Love Parade was "one of the biggest tragedies the city has ever experienced," and festival organizers announced Sunday that the event would be  discontinued permanently. 

The Love Parade, a techno- and trance-focused DJ-led event, turned deadly late Saturday afternoon as attendees were trapped in a tunnel leading to the main concert site. The exact cause of the crush was difficult to pinpoint, but numerous eyewitness accounts and reports from the German and British media seemed to indicate the tunnel exit was closed when it was determined the event was at capacity. Yet those awaiting to get in continued to move forward even as those at the end of the tunnel attempted to turn around.

The below is from a detailed timeline of events in Germany's Deutsche Welle: 

A bottleneck forms in the tunnel as people continue pushing forward. Simultaneously, others attempt to move in the opposite direction to return to the railway station. The air begins to thin and panic builds as some attempt to escape -- to no avail. Many people are intoxicated or using drugs, and are severely dehydrated.

The BBC has quoted police officials as saying 14 were killed on the steps outside the tunnel. At least six of the dead were said to be foreigners, ranging in age from 20 to 40. It appeared to have been hours before medical personnel could safely navigate the crowd and reach the tunnel, and the concert wasn't immediately canceled as organizers feared a mass panic.

News of the tragedy did not immediately reach those inside or performing at the event. Trance star DJ Tiësto was one of Love Parade's headliners, and the artist noted on his Twitter account that he was not informed of the incident until he was out of the country. 

"I want to send my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the people who died today," wrote Tiësto. "I am really upset and sad about this."

Love Parade organizer Rainer Schaller addressed the media on Sunday and said he was permanently discontinuing the dance gathering in the wake of the tragedy. "We are going to discontinue the event in the future and that means to say the Love Parade will no longer take place," Schaller said at Sunday's press conference, which can be viewed on the BBC website.

The Love Parade was established in Berlin in 1989, and this year marked the first time the event was held in Duisburg. Last year's event was scheduled for Bochum but was reportedly canceled over concerns about policing the massive crowd.

The tragedy comes as dance-focused events have fallen under increased scrutiny, especially in Los Angeles. This summer's Electric Daisy Carnival at L.A. Memorial Coliseum and adjoining Exposition Park led to more than 100 hospitalizations. A 15-year-old girl died of a suspected drug overdose after attending the two-day dance event. Dance culture has since been a focus of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which has established a rave task force.

Though the Insomniac Events' Electric Daisy Carnival averaged 80,000 to 100,000 attendees per day, its size and scope paled in comparison to those of the Love Parade. There does not yet appear to be an accurate attendance figure for the German event; some estimates have it as high as 1.4 million. 

That number may be somewhat inflated; organizers were reportedly prepared for about 700,000 attendees. The BBC has quoted officials as saying attendance was closer to 350,000; Deutsche Welle estimated it closer to 500,000. It's unclear whether the figures differentiate between those who descended upon Duisburg and those who made it inside the concert venue. 

Here in Los Angeles, the Coliseum Commission has imposed a temporary ban on rave contracts, although three events scheduled for the remainder of 2010 were granted approval to continue. The commission — the joint state, county and city panel that oversees the venue — has, however, imposed new restrictions on the promoters of dance events. 

Going forward, promoters must enforce a strict age limit of 18 by checking identification, hire a team of emergency-room doctors to work on-site and warn rave-goers about the dangers of the illegal drug Ecstasy, which some rave attendees see as an integral part of the experience. Rong-Gong Lin II has more details in his recent Times story: "Coliseum imposes conditions on three scheduled raves."

Insomniac Events issued a press release Sunday stating that its 18-and-older policy was successfully enforced at Saturday's dance and hip-hop Audiotistic concert, which was held at the NOS Center in San Bernardino. "Audiotistic 2010 proves that Insomniac Events knows how to produce a safe and secure music festival and that an 18 and older policy can be implemented successfully,” said Pasquale Rotella, Insomniac’s chief executive, in a statement. 

-- Todd Martens

Related: 

Love Parade stampede in Germany kills at least 18

Rethinking raves in aftermath of Electric Daisy Carnival

Overload from the Electric Daisy Carnival

Photos, from top: Concert-goers attempt to escape the crowd. Credit: EPA. Chalk outlines of two victims. Credit: Reuters. An overview of the crowd and tunnels at Love Parade. Credit: Getty Images

Comments

[freshcoldbeer.com]

Electric Daisy Carnival averaged 80,000 to 100,000 attendees per day, with an estimate maybe 60% of those people stayed in a hotel in los angeles, lets say an average of 60,000 had rented hotel rooms, in the greater los angeles area that weekend, All hotel bills are subject to a 14% occupancy tax, which is added to the bill at the end of a stay.

which would mean that the city of los angeles made a lot of money from these 60,000 people staying in hotels, for those two nights, assume the city made $14.00 multiplied by 60,000 people then the city made $840,000 in hotel tax alone for one 24 hour period, that is just and estimate from hotel tax, i haven't even calculated actual hotel costs with sales tax.

regardless of which, the city of los angeles has a huge budget deficit, and cannot financially afford to turn away any kind of music festival that will make a buck for the city.

as far as there being about 200,000 people at electric daisy carnival, and an estimated of 200 people being injured, that is still a pretty good number, only a 1% margin of event goers were injured.

the love parade, that's a great event. but given the amount of beer in germany, you should never pack people into a tunnel. that was just stupid planning

[Elsa Cancila]

I lived in Germany for 12 years....it amazes me how unorganized this love parade event was. Soccer games are full of cops with fierce dogs and everything is so controlled. This event was totally not supervised and from the looks of the photos its scary to see the massive crowds, then they closed the tunnel leaving no way out. Stupid. My 2 kids and nephew were there and as they entered a tunnel some old man told them to leave...that it was a bad scene...they walked further to see it and decided to leave because of the massive pushing and panic. Thank God! Germans get your act together!!! Looks like soccer is the only thing you care about. Thanks old man who ever you are for warning my boys!

[Jon K.]

Rong-Gong Lin II is a lousy journalist who writes smear campaigns.

This guy, Todd Martens, is a far more balanced journalist. We need more writers like Martens, as opposed to that hack Rong-Gong Lin II.

The simple fact is that these events should be and should have been 18 and older for some time. Adults can make their own decisions. Kids are inexperienced and prone to doing high-risk behavior because they don't know any better. Also, when a kid dies it makes great news for the "If it bleeds, it leads" mantra of publishers like the L.A. Times.

Generally speaking, these types of events are safe and positive and promote a far more optimistic worldview and respectful form of interactions than say, a heavy metal concert or a rap concert.

I wish the media would spend more time talking about how the overall aesthetic of these events is mutual respect, friendliness, and a more wholistic approach to life. It saddens me that the news spreads so much fear about events that truly promote a positive approach to life, as opposed to the negativity of rap, metal, and punk.

Anyhow, if one positive thing comes out of these recent tragedies, it'll be that electronic music festivals will become 18 and older--which will be good for the scene in general.

[baze.djunkiii]

as someone with more than a decade of nightlife experience as dj & promoter tome it's totally evident that none of the planning and security ever attended any parade or even big club event / concert / rave before. doors and entrances are always critical points, no matter if it's 500 ppl wanting to get in a 300 capacity venue or if it's way larger talking numbers. this planning surely was made by amateurs and blindfolded ppl, otherwise there's no explanation for a drama this big.

[LATIMER]

HAHAHA. Is L.A Time writers jobless nowadays? Going from Love Parade to Electric Daisy Carnival. Are you guys from L.A at all? How old are you guys? You guys recycle news like crazy. L.A Times to L.A Recycling Center hahaha

[ddd]

No, that's .1%

[Archangel]

Why YES! You just can't miss all the "love" strewn about the numbered chalk outlines of the 19 misfortunate dead people and 340 injured lying in the midst of all that trash and insanity depicted in the photo above.
Woodstock (neither one) this wasn't!
This [soooo much] "Love Parade" is merely another witness to a composite of your civilizations rapidly unveiling end. Wait until ALL of you 6.5 billion finally collide at some designated (pre-destined?) apex of dissention and implode into chaos upon yourselves. NO ONE will escape unscathed; you cannot derail it, you cannot avoid it, you will not stop it, and it's unfolding... much sooner than you wish!
Don't look for advice from some two-cent Nostradamus standing on a street corner holding a sign for a heads-up timeline; this psychological drama is unfolding now, right between every word in your daily news.
This ever present and widely reported world-mob mentality appears to be achieving a glorious crescendo… like an exquisitely executed opera production. Can you hear it? Are you even paying attention? Or are you too deaf, dumb and self-absorbed to even care that ‘your’ world is unraveling?
Like Woody Harrelson's character said in Natural Born Killers; "You ain't seen 'nothin yet!"
I can barely hold my breath for the real party to start... when MY world begins!

[Paul Taber]

I knew there was a reason I hated techno...

[Randy Bobandy]

I don't know if I would trust when a German tells you they are going to 'disband permanently'. We all remember the Treaty of Versailles.