h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Pierce,

that argument about money was what the organizers of the Parade told Berlin officials, as well. The problem with that still is that money brought in from non-Berliners will, true enough, stay in Berlin - but mostly in private businesses (hotels, bed'n'breakfasts, clubs and restaurants). *Official* Berlin will only benefit from that quite indirectly. Through taxes which most of those private businesses will be quite happy to evade if ever possible. The costs of cleaning up the city will be on official Berlin's shoulders immediately.

As for the political demonstration thingy... It takes some amount of goodwill to accept the Loveparade as anything near political. Remember that motto that was the main political statement from the beginning on: "Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen!" ("Peace, Joy, Pancakes!"), which is not much of a message, even if one did not take into account the fact that this proverb is used to describe indifference. People with a critical attitude towards the Loveparade have always maintained that the whole political demonstration aspect is just a scam used to get the right to party on the streets without having to pay the price for cleaning up afterwards. But even *if* the LP was truly a political demonstration, fixing a date for Tiergarten would be impossible if others had beaten them to it.

Y.

seems the death toll is up to 20 now


The thing is that we don't really have a culture of that kind of parade here, outside of Karneval which isn't in all parts, and is too cold for shorts and bikini tops (plus it's all that horrible Karneval music...)

If there were more of those sorts of things - since that's what young people seem to want to take part in - spread over the whole summer in different towns, the pressure wouldn't be so great, and then everyone could be happy.

Except the residents of wherever the next LP was going to take place...

yeah