Berlin falls out of love with the Love Parade

BERLIN, Feb 21 (Reuters Life!) - The organiser of Berlin's Love Parade vowed on Wednesday to move the giant street party to another city after the German capital failed to grant it a permit for this summer.

"Berlin is losing the biggest party in the world," said Rainer Schaller, director of the Love Parade, which became famous in the late 1990s for its truckloads of semi-naked revelers dancing to throbbing techno beats.

He estimates the outdoor dance party can bring 60 to 80 million euros ($79 million to $105 million) to the host city.

Attendance peaked at 1.5 million in 1999, however, and it has been downhill since. The 2006 festival was the first after a two year hiatus due to a lack of funds, and only about half as many party-goers as expected attended the July event.

Still, the parade brought some 500,000 scantily clad techno lovers to Germany's financially struggling capital.

In a city with close to 20 percent unemployment, festivals with the attraction power of the Love Parade provide a welcome boon to hotels, restaurants and clubs.

The parade, which began in 1989 as a small "demonstration for peace" with just 200 people, was stripped of its "political demonstration" status in 2001, meaning the city would no longer cover the cost of cleaning up after the revelers.

The organisers said on their Web site (www.loveparade.com) that due to the lack of a permit they had no guarantee that the event could take place and thus could not begin to organize it.

German media reported that Berlin officials wished to keep it in the city and that a permit may still be issued.

However, Schaller was adamant.

"It is of course a shame that we have to leave Berlin, but the Love Parade is international and will find a new home," he said. Although there have been no discussions with other venues, Schaller says he is open to all other major European cities. "We're looking for a partner city that will stand by us."