Tristana Moore says critics

The organiser of the festival said that there would be no more Love Parades.

"The Love Parade has always been a joyful and peaceful party, but in future would always be overshadowed by yesterday's events," , Rainer Schaller said.

"Out of respect for the victims, their families and friends, we are going to discontinue the event in the future, and that means the end of the Love Parade."

German prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the disaster.
Foreign nationals

Officials faced angry questions at the hour-long press conference in Duisburg.

Mayor Adolf Sauerland said that although the question of why the disaster had happened was "absolutely justified and must be answered" he insisted that until the investigation was complete, any apportioning of guilt would be "out of order".
Tributes at Love Parade, 25 July A number of tributes have been placed at the site of the tragedy

"That would not serve the victims, nor would it serve the families," he said.

Mr Sauerland said 340 people had been injured.

Sixteen of the dead had been identified, he added, and four of the victims were foreigners: one from the Netherlands, one from Australia, one from Italy and one China. They ranged in age from just over 20 to 40.

Mr Sauerland said that a security plan for the festival had been worked out beforehand "which gave no reason to believe that there would be a problem".

But BBC Berlin correspondent Tristana Moore says critics argued that the organisers and police were not prepared for such huge numbers of visitors and the site itself - an old railway yard - was too small and completely unsuitable.

The police insisted that security arrangements were adequate and claimed the site was not overcrowded. German media said the festival had drawn about 1.4 million people.

The head of a major police union, Rainer Wendt, told the Bild newspaper his organisation had warned a year ago that Christian Louboutin Pumps MBT shoes sale Wholesale Replica Handbags Christian Louboutin Pumps Wholesale designer bags Duisburg was "too narrow, too small to manage the masses of people".