the love parade that wasn't
did you hear about the Love Parade?
i've never heard of this event (just like ton of other events that happens in Germany). except that this one turned out to be a real horror.
as an intern, i get all the 411 on the major happenings for the weekend. last weekend, i believe, the Love Parade was happening somewhere. a huge number of interns decided to go for it. some of my friends didn't like the idea of a Love Parade, since there are several similar parades in Europe - and it mostly turns into a gay party where people are free to celebrate/express their love.
for me, it felt just like any other weekend. so when i heard some people say the Love Parade was awful; such a mess, i took it as 'oh, yet another event that failed to impress'.
little did i know how horrifying it was in reality. first news came that 5 internationals died (1 dutch, 1 chinese... the list goes on), and the death toll was over 10.
then slowly came personal accounts of those friends/acquaintances who were actually at the scene, describing how close they were to death. 1.4 million people, packed into an area (think: tunnel) which had the capacity for 250,000; with only one exit. some attendees realized it was almost impossible to get into the party area, but with no space to back out, since more people were pouring in. due to lack of security to manage the crowd, people were fighting to claw their way in, while others were pawing their way out.
i've never heard of this event (just like ton of other events that happens in Germany). except that this one turned out to be a real horror.
as an intern, i get all the 411 on the major happenings for the weekend. last weekend, i believe, the Love Parade was happening somewhere. a huge number of interns decided to go for it. some of my friends didn't like the idea of a Love Parade, since there are several similar parades in Europe - and it mostly turns into a gay party where people are free to celebrate/express their love.
for me, it felt just like any other weekend. so when i heard some people say the Love Parade was awful; such a mess, i took it as 'oh, yet another event that failed to impress'.
little did i know how horrifying it was in reality. first news came that 5 internationals died (1 dutch, 1 chinese... the list goes on), and the death toll was over 10.
then slowly came personal accounts of those friends/acquaintances who were actually at the scene, describing how close they were to death. 1.4 million people, packed into an area (think: tunnel) which had the capacity for 250,000; with only one exit. some attendees realized it was almost impossible to get into the party area, but with no space to back out, since more people were pouring in. due to lack of security to manage the crowd, people were fighting to claw their way in, while others were pawing their way out.
some people turned pale/blue in the face and collapsed. impatient people from behind pushed and walked on the weak, and imagine the weight! accounts from my friends who were present could tell they were dead; and it was ironic the music was playing in the background whilst Death was staring at people in their faces.
funny how my friend could respond to a phone call, saying 'we are dying in here', because they were squashed; and at the same time not knowing how close they were to the truth at that point.
life is fragile.
