Germans struggle to cope with concert tragedy 

Candles and flowers at the tunnel near where the stampede happened - Source: Reuters

The Love Parade death toll rose by one to 21 on Wednesday as Germans, who cherish order and organisation, struggled to understand how such a tragedy could happen in their tightly regulated country.

A 25-year-old woman died from injuries suffered four days earlier in the stampede at the Love Parade on Saturday, when hordes of young people pushed through a tunnel into the techno festival area at a former freight rail yard in Duisburg.

The mourning has turned into finger-pointing. It has also cast a pall over the country that had been in a celebratory mood this summer over strong growth, falling unemployment and a surge in national pride over the soccer team's World Cup successes.

Police have said local officials ignored warnings that Duisburg, with a population of 500,000, would be too small to host one million people at the Love Parade, while the organisers blamed police for letting too many into the railyard.

"This tragedy is deeply upsetting for people across Germany," said German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm.

"This is going to have far-reaching ramifications."

Chancellor Angela Merkel will interrupt her summer holiday to attend a memorial service on Saturday in Duisburg.

A top police official in North Rhine-Westphalia, Dieter Wehe, nearly broke down in tears at a news conference on Wednesday when he told journalists the victims suffocated.

Accustomed to a high degree of efficiency and organisation, Germans have been dumbfounded by the Love Parade chaos and media reports that city officials and organisers did not heed warnings that Duisburg would struggle to cope with such a massive event.

Germans may complain about the layers of bureaucracy that can delay permission to build even a bus stop shelter. But they also expect the state to shield them from these kinds of accidents and disasters that may happen elsewhere.

"This disaster wasn't an act of God, it was preventable," wrote Heribert Prantl in the Munich newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"It was the result of a chain of mistakes: Carelessness, foolishness and a failure to act responsibly."

Warnings ignored?

Germans have little tolerance for poor organisation and the top news story this month before the Love Parade was that some intercity trains had been plagued by malfunctioning air conditioners. The Love Parade has since dominated the news.

Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland has faced heavy criticism. Bild newspaper said on Wednesday he ignored warnings from city planning agencies, police and fire departments.

Sauerland denied wrongdoing and said he was co-operating with an investigation by state prosecutors. He told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung daily that he would not resign because that would be tantamount to admitting responsibility.

"I've got to hold on," Sauerland told the newspaper.

Yet after being jeered and attacked by some mourners when he tried to place flowers for the victims at the site, Sauerland will not attend the memorial ceremony because he does not want to hurt the feelings of the families, his spokesman said.

"It's now become clear that Mayor Sauerland overruled the safety concerns raised by his own agencies," wrote Bild columnist Nicolaus Fest. "He told them to them to drop their concerns," Fest wrote, adding Sauerland should resign.

Mourners visiting the site of the tragedy on Wednesday left flowers and candles for the victims. Some fought back tears and said they could not understand how it could have happened.

A banner on the tunnel read: "July 24 2010 - nothing will ever be the same". Some called for Sauerland's resignation.

"I haven't come to terms with this yet," said Duisburg resident Janine Dietz, who was at the Love Parade.

"It's really horrible. Something like this must never happen here again."

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