 Map of the Love Parade in Duisburg | |
| Date | 24 July 2010 |
|---|---|
| Location | Duisburg, Germany |
| Deaths | 21 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 652 |
On 24 July 2010, a crowd disaster at the 2010 Love Parade electronic dance music festival in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, caused the deaths of 21 people from suffocation as attendees sought to escape a ramp leading to the festival area.[1] 652 people were injured.[2]
The Love Parade was a free-access music festival and parade that originated in 1989 in Berlin. The parade featured stages, but also had floats with music, DJs, and dancers moving through the audience. The Love Parade in Duisburg was the first time that the festival had been held in a closed-off area.[3] Between 200,000 and 1.4 million people were reported to be attending the event and 3,200 police were on hand.[4]
As a consequence of the disaster, the organizer of the festival announced that no further Love Parades would be held and that the festival was permanently cancelled.[5][6][7] Criminal charges were brought against ten employees of the city of Duisburg and of the company that organized the event, but eventually rejected by the court due to the prosecutors' failure to establish evidence for the alleged acts of negligence and their causal connection to the deaths. In 2017, the prosecution of 10 event planners on charges of negligent homicide and mayhem were reinstated, but the trial was ended without a verdict in 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
helbingwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Veranstalter gibt Polizei Schuld an Eskalation". Der Spiegel (in German). 26 July 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ^ Tragisches Ende der Techno-Party by Online Focus(in German)
- ^ "Nineteen Dead in German Festival Horror". Yahoo! News. 25 July 2010. Archived from the original on 30 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ Staff writer (25 July 2010). "Organisers Blamed for German Love Parade Deaths — Survivors of a Stampede at a Free Dance Music Festival in Germany in which 19 People Were Killed Have Blamed Organisers for the Deaths". BBC News. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Mara, Darren; Levitz, David (25 July 2010). "Prosecutors Launch Investigation into Love Parade Tragedy — German State Prosecutors Have Opened an Investigation into the Stampede that Killed 19 People and Injured Hundreds at the Love Parade Music Festival in Duisburg — But Questions Remain as to What Caused the Tragedy". The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse – via Deutsche Welle.
- ^ Staff writer (25 July 2010). "No More Love Parades, Organiser Says — The Love Parade Will Never Be Held Again, Organiser Rainer Schaller Said on Sunday at a Highly-Emotional Press Conference". The Local. Retrieved 27 July 2010.