Rockbites: Danish police publish new findings on Roskilde deaths

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December 2000 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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Danish police publish new findings on Roskilde deaths
26 December 2000

A report released late last week by Danish police entirely reverses their initial conclusions from this past July on the Roskilde tragedy, now blaming poor sound as the primary culprit in nine deaths. A secondary cause was a breakdown in the chain of command among security workers at the festival, the 24 page report says. But they will not file criminal charges.
    In July, three weeks after nine male concertgoers died of asphyxiation after falling in the mud in front of the Orange stage at Denmark’s Roskilde charity festival on 30 June, Danish police issued a statement calling the tragedy an 'accident.' But they claimed that Seattle rockers Pearl Jam, on stage at the time of the deaths, were 'morally responsible' because they incited violent behavior in the audience. At the same time, the report exonerated festival organizers from any responsibility.
    Pearl Jam responded with a statement discounting both conclusions. They wrote in July “It is our feeling that what happened at the Roskilde festival cannot be written off as a 'freak accident' or 'bad luck' as some have called it. When something this disastrous occurs, when this many lives are lost, it is essential that every aspect be examined thoroughly and from all angles. To date, we don’t feel this has been done...
    “It is our understanding that at least 15 minutes passed between the time a member of the festival security team identified a potential problem and the time we were informed.
    “We stopped the show immediately upon being told that there might be a problem, even though we were asked to wait until the nature of the problem could be determined.
    “It is our belief that if we had been informed of a potential problem at the moment that it was first identified by the festival security, we could have stopped the show earlier and lives could have been saved.”
    Pearl Jam’s and other protests prompted police inspector Uffe Kornerup to re-open the investigation. Finally, late last week, Danish police released their new report based on new interviews with 977 audience members, organizers, security personnel, rescue workers, and members of Pearl Jam.
    Police have concluded that poor sound toward the back of the audience provoked the crush of people toward the stage, and that confusion and a breakdown in the chain of command among Roskilde security personnel resulted in an extended delay before the band was informed of a potential problem. | Roskilde | | Pearl Jam | | Crowd Management Strategies (safety info) | | top of page |

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