Trial begins over the Love Parade tragedy that left 21 people dead

The trial over the Love Parade deaths began on Friday in Germany with 10 people charged for allegedly failing to properly plan the 2010 festival, according to Reuters.

On July 24, 2010 at Love Parade in the city of Duisburg, a sudden panic occurred when thousands of people rushed a tunnel which was the only access point to the techno festival. This resulted in a stampede that killed 21 people with more than 650 others injured.

Now 10 individuals, including four employees of the company involved in planning the event and six from the local authority, are facing charges of negligent manslaughter and bodily harm. All have denied wrongdoing.

In order to accommodate the attention this trial is expected to get, with reports stating it will be one of the biggest trials in postwar Germany, the trial was moved from Duisburg to the congress center in the nearby city of Duesseldorf.

The lengthy trial could take over a year to conclude, but reports state there is pressure to finish it sooner as the statute of limitations runs out in July 2020.

[Via: Reuters]

Harrison is Mixmag's East Coast Editor. Follow him on Twitter here