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Why are there crowd disturbances at Danish tourist attraction Tivoli Gardens?

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Why are there crowd disturbances at Danish tourist attraction Tivoli Gardens?
Copenhagen tourist attraction Tivoli - pictured here in October 2020 - has experienced crowd disturbances at its Friday night concerts. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Copenhagen’s iconic tourist attraction Tivoli, known for its 19th-century layout, fairground rides and family atmosphere, has announced a reservation system for concert goers due to recent episodes of crowd unrest. What is going on at the normally-sedate amusement park?

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Management at Tivoli Gardens on Tuesday that it was introducing a booking system for big concerts, after recent episodes of chaos and unrest caused by concert-goers.

Attendees of the weekly concert event Friday Rock (Fredagsrock) will now need a special reservation in addition to their entry ticket. The reservation will specify a time at which the guest will arrive at the concert.

It will no longer be possible to attend the Friday concerts without a reservation unless they have another specific Tivoli reservation, such as for one of its restaurants.

READ ALSO: Danish attraction Tivoli to launch booking system after concert chaos

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The decision was might in the wake of several incidents of crown unrest at Tivoli during the early part of the Spring 2022 opening season.

Earlier this month, a Friday concert by the rapper Icekild was disrupted by fighting among spectators.

A week later on April 22nd, thousands of people attended the amusement park to see singer Andreas Odbjerg rapper Artigeardit perform. 

Shortly before 8.30pm, the amusement park had to close its gates as it had reached capacity, which meant that thousands of people gathered on the streets around Tivoli in Copenhagen without being able to enter. Some did not accept the decision by Tivoli to close its gates and tried to force their way in.

Several police patrols were sent out in an attempt to manage the crowds around the park.

Tivoli’s commercial director Niels Erik Folmann told news wire Ritzau that the park had experience a change in atmosphere among its concert guests since business returned to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Compared to before corona, we have seen a lot of young people deciding to come to our Friday Rock. And they are very inebriated,” Folmann said.

“It’s very unusual for an otherwise upmarket artistic programme that we see people do almost anything, instead of just finding another party to go to, so to speak,” he said.

Tivoli expected high interest in the concerts after a period when, due to Covid-19 restrictions, live music events have been few and far between. But the extent of their draw has been surprising, Folmann said.

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“It has surprised us that this has accelerated so much. I had a colleague who said it seems like it’s New Year’s Eve every Friday. Not just for us, but in nightlife generally,” he said.

“It seems like there’s an ‘on’ button and when it’s pressed, people drink as much as they can. People are falling over themselves in a way we’re not used to,” he said.

It should be noted that the disturbances at Tivoli have only been reported during Friday concert events and that daytimes, when families enter the park to use its rollercoasters and carousels, have not been affected and do not require special reservations.

“We want to make sure of a safe experience,” Folmann also said.

“There’s always someone in such a crowd on a Friday evening who doesn’t behave themselves. But it’s the amount of young people whose behaviour has crossed the line that has surprised us,” he said.

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