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© 2014 AFPEx-police officer acquitted over fatal stampede in 2001
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© 2014 AFP
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Abhorsenaube
What caused the stampede? Anyone know where I can find an article about the actual event?
kimuzukashiiiii
2001?! So this has been hanging over the head of this poor guy for 13 years? Poor guy...
gogogo
Abhorsenaube: I remember when it happened, basically after a fireworks festival everyone was leaving at the same time, everyone was pushing to get to the station, people were trampled, baby carriages were destroyed, basically the police didn't filter the people surging and pushing onto the walkway.
nandakandamanda
The accident has had serious repercussions ever since throughout local government there. Everyone remembers it and many point out the bridge every time they drive under it. Poor guy indeed. They needed scapegoats. Many of the public were going to the beach to see the fireworks, but many were pushing back trying to go the other way and 11 were killed in the crush. Let's hope they can finally put this thing behind them.
Alex Einz
another proof that most people are nothing more than cattle
AngieStars
I'm not sure its fair to call them ''zombies'' (And the cattle comment from Alex was really uncalled for). Oftentimes in human crushes like this, people are unable to stop or turn around because of the force of the crowd, and many people who have survived crushes note that their feet leave the ground and they're held up just from being pushed so close to those around them.
But I fully agree with you, the police really did not control the crowd properly in these circumstances. It's an awful tragedy that I hope isn't repeated, as having the life squeezed out of you or being trampled is a horrifying way to die. I hope the families of the victims find peace.
kickboard
reckless, I wonder if you would call the people at Hillsborough "zombies." A human crush will occur anywhere without proper crowd control.
Mirai Hayashi
@Reckless
I take offense to YOU referring to Japanese people as Zombies. You did it on another discussion and you're doing it again here. We ARE NOT zombies nor is it fair or kosher to refer to us as zombies.
I can recall similar problems in England and Brazil at their football games where many people were killed due to poor crowd control. So its a people problem not a Japanese problem.
TSRnow
It may not have been his sole fault, so I am not saying blame it on him, but the police and organizers were really inefficient at the time of this incident. I have been to many such places where things like this can happen, but most organizers with the full cooperation of the police have a way to control the traffic one way or another. Here, it was total caos, with people coming to and fro on a single bridge, whereas other bridges were not as crowded.
There are a lot of reports and blogs in Japanese, but I couldn't find a good article in English. You can google "Akashi fireworks stampede" for preliminary reports.
Alex Einz
Defo not a Japanese per se problem.. the majority of people in the world are not clever or mindfull of the situation around them enough to avoid being in the dangerous position in the first place hence my statement that most people are not much different than mindless cattle , the Japanese society does encourage group behaviour so there is some truth to the above statements though.
Fadamor
People two or three bodies back aren't going to be able to see ANYTHING and will continue to move forward unless somebody yells for everyone to stop. Even then, people aren't going to initially stop because why would someone five people ahead be telling YOU to stop? I was caught in a crush one year at a concert where everyone was up close to the barrier and someone stumbled. When they fell forward there was no more resistance against the people behind them and THEY fell forward because there was no place to put their feet to regain their balance. The reduced back pressure on the crowd pushed forward those still standing who were trying to give those who fell some space and they were ALSO pushed on top of those already fallen. It was a reverse field of dominoes and probably the only time I've been afraid for my life outside of when I was in the military. Even when you see it happening, there's nothing a single person can do to hold back the dozens of people behind them.
Monaka
@ Abhorsenaube
Here's a link to an AP article ("Rowdy youths blamed in festival deaths") from July 23, 2001, that was in Bangor, Maine's Bangor Daily News :
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o6JJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Vg0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3996%2C1986644
TSRnow
Monaka, I know this ariticle, but didn't want to give anybody the wrong idea by posting it because these youths had nothing to do with this incident happening. There were simply just too many people on the bridge with no control.
At first, Japanese reports said the same, but they turned out to be false. It is said that it came from the fact that there were a couple of people (including kids with yellow hair) on top of the bridge to try to control the crowd by asking(shouting sometimes) to get the people from the station to go back since it was already packed. Some even helped some children up to get some air when they were smothered in the crowd. These english reports only report at the time of the accident and a lot of them are not correct.