Hundreds of thousands of visitors, packed beer tents and a brief moment of panic on an amusement ride: This year’s Oktoberfest has kicked off with huge crowds and heightened security measures.
Image: Angelika Warmuth/REUTERS
It’s “O’zapft” time again in Munich: The 191st Oktoberfest kicked off with nearly 450,000 visitors attending on the first day. Oktoberfest director Christian Scharpf from the Social Democrats said it was “picture-perfect start.” With amusement rides and huge tents, the world-famous beer festival draws more than 6 million a year to the “Wiesn,” the Theresienwiese festival grounds.
Image: Felix Hörhager/dpa/picture alliance
Hundreds of thousands attended the opening in a peaceful and joyful atmosphere. Crowds packed the grounds from day one, with several beer tents forced to temporarily close by the afternoon because of overcrowding. Some Oktoberfest-goers had even camped overnight at the entrances to secure one of the coveted seats in the beer tents when the grounds opened.
Image: Matthias Schrader/AP Photo/picture alliance
After overcrowding and various dangerous situations last year, the Oktoberfest’s security plan has been tightened. A monitoring center has been equipped with 50 AI-powered cameras to analyze crowds and detect potential problems. Approximately 600 police officers and several hundred security guards have been deployed. They are also prepared in case of drone incidents.
Image: Michael Bihlmayer/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance
Tens of thousands of spectators lined the streets for the traditional traditional costume and marksmen parade. This colorful spectacle — featuring some 9,000 marksmen, marching band members, acrobats and performers, as well as decorated floats — winds its way through Munich every year on the second day of Oktoberfest.
Image: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/picture alliance
Visitors to the Oktoberfest need to have a lot of money in their pockets. While no ticket is required to enter the festival grounds, the popular tents fill up quickly, especially on weekends. Anyone wishing to reserve one of the coveted tables shoud plan on a minimum spending requirement of several hundred euros per table.
Image: Michael Bihlmayer/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance
Rosa Sonntag, aka Gay Sunday, at the Bräurosl beer tent has been a staple Oktoberfest event for decades. It has tended to draw mainly gay men, but this year the organizers tried to broaden its appeal to the wider LGBTQ+ community. For the first time ever, this year featured an explicitly lesbian event that atttracted about 700 people.
Image: Matthias Schrader/AP Photo/picture alliance
For many visitors, it’s the beer with around 6% alcohol that’s the main attraction. Six of Munich’s traditional breweries brew up a special Oktoberfest beer, and about 7 million liters (about 14 million pints) are sold each year. The heavy drinking can be dangerous: more than a third of the incidents at the first-aid stations last year involved acute alcohol intoxication.
Image: Matthias Schrader/AP Photo/picture alliance
A malfunction of the Predator ride caused a moment of panic at the opening: People on the ride were briefly left hanging upside down. They were then safely removed and their evacuation took only a few minutes according to the operator. The incident was likely caused by a malfunctioning sensor that automatically stopped the ride.
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