Accidents and arrests mar first day of German carnival

Feb 16, 2007, 10:43 GMT

Dusseldorf, Germany - Arrests for assault and drunkenness and two fatal pedestrian accidents marred the Rhineland carnival in Germany, police said Friday as tens of thousands of tourists thronged western cities to join in the excitement.

Police in Cologne said they had put 143 revellers in the cells Thursday night, when an estimated 150,000 people danced and sang in city bars and on the streets. Police responded to 1,147 calls overnight including 160 incidents of brawling.

In the nearby city of Dusseldorf, an elderly man was run over by a tram Thursday and died in hospital of his injuries, shortly after a 20-year-old male reveller had fallen onto tracks and been run over by a mass-transit train.

Thursday, known in German as Weiberfastnacht, was the first of six days of high-gear celebrations in cities and towns in the Rhineland, with parades to be held over the weekend and on Monday. Straw men are burned in Cologne amid partying Tuesday to mark the end of carnival.

Unlike the Venetian carnival, which has been largely turned over to the tourists, the Rhineland carnival is still dominated by locals, although huge numbers of people from other parts of Germany and abroad travel to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Mainz, Aachen and other cities.

In Aachen, shocked police said the youngest person they had picked up for serious drunkenness was an 11-year-old boy. His father said teenagers at a party had probably pressed beer and spirits on him.