The Tragedy At Love Parade Festival In Germany

On Saturday I posted an interview with a live music fan who had a DJ Tiesto concert conversion experience last fall in Chicago. Well, it saddens me to publish this blog post because it’s about the tragedy that occurred at the Love Parade in Germany where DJ Tiesto was headlining and 21 concert fans died and over 300 were injured.

Since the stampede occurred on July24th here’s what has been reported by the Associated Press on July 27th:

German state authorities on Wednesday accused the organizer of last weekend’s Love Parade techno festival of major security breaches which may have led to the crush that killed 21 people and injured more than 500.

The organizer’s security officials failed to properly control the entrance area where the victims were crushed, according to North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger and the state’s chief police controller Dieter Wehe.

“Security did not fulfill its duty,” Wehe said while presenting the key findings of a preliminary police investigation at a news conference.

As reported by the NY Times:

“It’s a horror situation, especially because rescuers cannot get through to those injured,” Thomas Muenten, a reporter for ZDF, the German public television channel, said in the early evening. “The people literally trampled each other on the way into this tunnel.”

Photos and television images of the scene after the crush showed many young people looking dazed, with personal items that had been left behind scattered around them.

“There were piles of injured on the ground, some being resuscitated, others dead and covered with sheets,” said Isabel Schloesser, 18, according to Reuters. “It was way too full in the afternoon. Everyone wanted to get in.”

As stated in all the reports, authorities are not sure what exactly set off the stampede. And a full investigation is underway and we’ll keep you update on future developments.

Remembering Great White in Rhode Island

Looking back, Love Parade 2010 is one of the worst concert tragedies since the Great White disaster that killed 100 people at a Rhode Island venue in 2001, and the stampede that occurred at the E2 nightclub in Chicago when clubbers were not able to exit the venue and were crushed to death.

History of Love Parade
According to this wiki: The parade first occurred just months before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was started by the Berlin underground at the initiative of Matthias Roeingh (also known as “Dr Motte”) and his then girlfriend Danielle de Picciotto. It was conceived as a political demonstration for peace and international understanding through love and music.

Don’t We Learn From The Past?
Though no one was killed in the Drake riots earlier this year, this is yet again another situation that didn’t have to happen and was likely caused by festival organizers and promoters not creating a safe concert environment or understanding how many people would actually attend the event.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families for their lost and the fellow concert fans who had to witness such a terrible event unfold before them.

Fan Videos
Here are some videos that were captured by fans as the tragedy unfolded. Do watch the video with caution as some of the images are graphic and disturbing.