German Church Service Pays Tribute to Love Parade Victims

Thousands of people gathered at memorial services in Duisberg, Germany yesterday at to honour the victims of last weekend's Love Parade disaster in which 21 people lost their lives in a crush at the entrance to the dance festival.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among the mourners attending a service at the city's Salvator Church which was broadcast on giant screens in a football stadium and a dozen other churches across Duisberg.

The service was led by Roman Catholic and Lutheran Protestant clerics.

"The Love Parade became a dance of death," Nikolaus Schneider, the head of the Rhineland Lutheran church assembly, said in his sermon.

Rescue helpers lit 21 candles, one for each victim of the tragedy.

Those killed were aged 18 to 38 and included people from Spain, Australia, Italy, Bosnia, China, and Holland. More than 500 people were wounded at the festival which has been an annual event since 1989. 25 are reportedly still in hospital.

According to the NME,1.4 million people attended the festival. It has already been announced that the event will never happen again.