German authorities were warned of festival danger

THE head of a police union warned German authorities 12 months ago that the Love Parade in Duisburg at which 19 people died was an accident waiting to happen.

Police union boss Rainer Wendt told Bild newspaper his organisation had warned a year ago that Duisburg was “too narrow, too small to manage the masses of people” who were likely to come to such an event.

A total of 1.4 million were drawn to the festival and 18 of the 19 dead have been positively identified.