Police warnings about the dangers of holding the Love Parade in the German city of Duisburg were not heeded, the police union chief said today, as the death toll from a stampede at the event rose to 20.
The revellers died when panic broke out at the techno music festival on Saturday in the western city near the Dutch border.
“Consequences must be drawn urgently ... I think it’s clear the security plans were not good,” Hannelore Kraft, state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, said on ARD television, confirming that death of a 20th injured participant.
Chancellor Angela Merkel expects a "scrupulously thorough" investigation into the tragedy, her spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin. Authorities earlier raised the number of injured to 511, including 43 seriously hurt, one in critical condition.
“I warned them a year ago that Duisburg is not a suitable location for the Love Parade. It's too small and too cramped," said Rainer Wendt, a senior police officer and head of the national police union.
Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland, who had to be protected from angry bystanders at the scene of the stampede on Sunday, said the city was cooperating with prosecutors.
“We'll give answers as soon as we've given answers to the state prosecutor," Sauerland told WDR radio.
“The whole city is in mourning. We'll help clarify what happened. We did everything we could to make it a safe venue”.
The Love Parade originated in Berlin, with a population of 3.4 million, and was held in a giant park in Germany's largest city until 2006. Duisburg has a population of 500,000.
Eight foreigners, from Spain, Bosnia, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and China, were among those killed when crowds of young people pushed through a tunnel into the techno festival grounds at a former freight rail yard.
Reuters