TONE TONE AND FRIENDS – XXX
ToneToneDiscussion continues.
Friend: I think we should let U Ayethaka know about the German tragedy. 18 killed.
Friend: But of course, he is very keen to do “Chient Chient thare” (joyful crowd). He promised to work harder on it when another monk praised him and told him to do more “Chient Chient thare.”
Friend: The irony is Azusa Temple has a permit of only 130 persons. He won’t tell the other monk or the public.
Friend: Also, people forget and become reckless. “Bawa maet”/Forget their station or roots. Need to remind them often.
Friend: They are blinded by greed for fame or Nawa Kama personal moneys.
Joyful music festival turns into tragedy
BERLIN, July 24 (Xinhua) — The death toll from a stampede on Saturday at a music festival in western Germany’s Duisburg city has risen to 18, with 16 people confirmed killed on the scene and two others succumbing to injuries in hospital, local police said.
The previous toll was 15. There were also 80 others injured, 45 of them seriously, as a crowd of thousands was blocked inside a tunnel and a mass panic occurred during the Love Parade, a popular electronic music festival, according to Duisburg police.
The police said at a press conference that the stampede happened shortly after 5 p.m. local time, as people were pushing and crushing each other in an entrance tunnel leading to the event ‘s main stage.
Police said that some people were killed and hurt after ” climbing over the barriers and falling to the ground.”
Local police have opened a hotline to help contact the relatives of the victims. The names and nationalities of the dead remained unknown.
Wang Xin, chairman of the Chinese students’ association in Duisburg, told Xinhua on the phone that some Chinese students also attended the event, but so far he has received no report of any casualties.
Wang said Duisburg was a relatively small city with a population of 500,000, and its roads were generally narrow.
“It is imaginable that the city has exceeded its limits when more than 1 million people were pouring into the streets and plaza and caused chaos,” he said.
Both German President Christian Wulff and Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their sorrow and shock over the tragedy.
“In this difficult time, I express my sympathy and sorrow for the families of the victims … I am appalled and saddened by the suffering and pain,” said Merkel in a statement.
“Such a catastrophe is terrible, which caused death, suffering and pain during a peaceful festival of joyful young people from many countries,” Wulff said. He called for an immediate investigation into the incident.
German president demands uncompromising investigation into stampede in Duisburg
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-07/25/c_13413644.htm
BERLIN, July 24 (Xinhua) — German President Christian Wulff on Saturday asked for “uncompromising” investigation into a deadly stampede that occurred earlier Saturday at the Love Parade in the western German city of Duisburg, one of Europe’s largest electronic music events.
Wulff said in a statement that he was shocked by the tragedy: ” Such a catastrophe, which caused death, suffering and pain during a peaceful celebration of cheerful young people from many countries, is terrible.”
He expressed the hope that rapid and effective aid be offered to relatives of victims and those injured. “And the cause should be uncompromisingly investigated,” he added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed shock at the tragedy and offered help from the federal government.
At least 15 were killed and about 100 injured on Saturday afternoon in a mass panic when people were blocked inside a tunnel in Duisburg leading to the site of the Love Parade. Local authorities had tried to prevent thousands of people from getting into the event site due to over-crowding.
Organizers said that over one million music fans attended the event on Saturday.
The Love Parade is one of Europe’s largest electronic music festivals, which was originally hosted in Berlin from 1989 to 2006. Other German cities began to host it afterwards.
Love Parade stampede in Germany kills at least 18 – latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-germany-love-parade-20100725,0,2079922.story
A music festival rooted in the heady and optimistic days that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall ended in tragedy Saturday when at least 18 people attending the hugely popular Love Parade were crushed to death as crowds panicked inside a tunnel and started a stampede.
Police said that more than 200 others were wounded at the rave, which had attracted an astonishing 1.4 million people and is reputed to be the largest techno music festival in the world.
The stampede is believed to have occurred when revelers dashed to enter the tunnel after being told by police that the festival grounds in the western city of Duisburg had been closed off because of overcrowding.
Kevin Krausgartner, a 21-year-old who found himself trapped in the tunnel, told German media he had witnessed “gruesome scenes.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “There were 25 people lying in a heap. I screamed — people could no longer get any air. I saw dead people, and one person was sitting there looking extremely pale. I wanted to give him some water, but the ambulance medic told me there was no point as he was already dead.”
Krausgartner said he saw police “standing on the bridge doing nothing.”…
Ten years ago, a similar concert crush left nine people dead at a Pearl Jam concert in Denmark.
The Love Parade has always prided itself on its nonaggressive image, and was for years held as a political demonstration whose message was one of world harmony and peace.