11 killed at African musicfestival

Mon 25th May, 2009 in International News

The nine-day-long Mawzine music festival in Morocco culminated in tragedy, when 11 people were killed and 40 injured in a stampede to leave the venue. Held in Moroccan capital Rabat, Mawzine featured a starry line-up including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and Kylie Minogue.

As the festival came to an end on Saturday night, the 70,000-strong crowd rushed to leave. A wire fence fell over in the crush, killing five women, four men and two children.

“At the end of the concert and despite the existence of seven gates, a group of citizens decided to go over the metal barriers to have a quick exit,” Governor of Rabat Hassan Lamrani said in a statement. However, Reuters news interviewed some concertgoers who implied the police were responsible for blocking gates, which brought about the stampedes.