Berlin's Love Parade has been cancelled for the second year in a row after organisers again failed to secure funding. The dance music event, which began as an underground rave in 1989 but grew into a huge city centre festival in the late nineties, has struggled to meet its costs since courts ruled the event's promoters must cover the cost of cleaning up the city after the Parade. The city had previously covered those costs because organisers claimed the event was actually a political protest, but in 2001 the court ruled the Parade had now become a commercial enterprise.
This year Parade promoters blamed Germany's ailing economy for the cancellation, saying that meant they couldn't secure sufficient corporate sponsorship to cover their costs. Despite not running the event for two consecutive years organisers say the Love
Parade is not dead, adding that they hope to put together a
2006 event to coincide with Germany's hosting of the World Cup.
Parade organiser Sabine Bremermann told reporters: "We will do everything we can, in co-operation with the city-state of Berlin, industry and the media, to find a way to make a comeback the year of the World Cup".