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Video: Police blocked door, caused deadly stampede
But video recorded by authorities, as well as numerous witness statements, paint a much different picture: it now appears that police, who had been called to the News Divine club because of reports of underage drinking, blocked the only open exit to the club, creating the deadly bottleneck. The club, which had been closed for violations in the past, was particularly full because of a Friday afternoon party to celebrate the end of the school year. According to the AP, an emergency exit was blocked by cases of beer.
An uncensored video of the incident taken by authorities reportedly shows police blocking the exit. According to Mexican media accounts, the police were ordered not to let anyone out of the club until more buses arrived to cart away the underage patrons. During the ensuing stampede, nine clubgoers and three police officers died and authorities are investigating who gave the order.
This morning, 17 cops were removed from their post and could face charges. Yesterday, the officer in charge of the operation was charged with murder and there are whispers that Mexico City Police Chief Joel Ortega could be fired. One official with the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office told the El Universal newspaper: “It was a total error by police.”
Here is video taken of the chaos outside the club as the first bodies are taken out (be warned, these images may be hard to take):
Here is a heavily edited version of the video taken by police:
Comments
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By Larry
June 24, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
I’m not sure what is wrong with police blocking the exit to contain the crowd. The owner telling the crowd that they were about to be arrested caused panic. Looks like the owner, or whoever caused the panic would be the one in trouble.
By malcolm
July 6, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this
hey jeremy, i’m not entirely convinced the video on youtube (and also posted on El Universal shortly after the raid) is actually News Divine. it could be a side exit, but the color of the building, not to mention the loncheria, don’t match up with other footage and photos of the Club from that evening.
By Jeremy Schwartz
July 8, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
Malcolm, I think you’re right, the cell phone video is probably of a different operation. I’ve taken that down and put up the actual video of the News Divine incident. The unedited videos of what’s happening inside the club have are also available on Youtube if anyone is interested in looking for them (be warned, they are hard to take).
By fall flags
August 19, 2008 4:32 AM | Link to this
hanks for the useful information
Thanks