NO WAY out. No way forward, no way back. No air. The stampede at Saturday’s Love Parade was triggered by a primitive reflex on the part of partygoers to survive an oppressive situation.
After the Duisburg festival grounds were closed around 4pm, reportedly because of overcrowding, a reported one million revellers were already inside. Within minutes, thousands of paraders gathered outside, snaking down a ramp around 50m (164ft) wide and under a 100m-long bridge.
Shortly before 5pm, the first loudspeaker announcements urged partygoers to turn around and go home. With all approach roads blocked, and crowds squeezed into a narrow, airless space, police said around a dozen partygoers scaled a barrier to climb a metal staircase on the ramp, only to fall back down into the crowd, triggering the panic.
The crush began shortly after 5pm. As the panic spread, partygoers tried to warn friends via mobile phone to flee, but calls failed to connect. Within minutes, those present were fleeing in any direction they could: up stairs, over barriers, or up the embankment to the adjacent motorway. One group burst onto the nearby railway tracks, forcing the suspension of rail traffic.
“At some point we were all just carried along by the mass of people, some went down and were trampled,” said Mohammad Runo (21), his left eye swollen and turning blue. He saw people piled six and seven high. “I’m just so happy I got out of that catastrophe.” After an hour, with bodies lying covered and with the injured staggering around, a survivor said the Love Parade resembled “a war zone”.
