Berlin Love Parade sets late date

The parade attracts more than 1 million dancers to Berlin

BERLIN, Germany -- Berlin's Love Parade will be held a week later than normal, after environmentalists booked the usual date for a protest.

The party, which attracts millions of ravers and contributes an estimated $110 million to the city's economy, had been in doubt when an anti-parade group booked the venue.

Environmentalists have complained that the ravers leave too much rubbish in Tiergarten Park, central Berlin.

The Love Parade has been held on the second Saturday of July since 1989, and attracted 1.3 million young people last year from across Europe.

Parade organisers said on Wednesday the dance party would now take place on July 21, Reuters news agency reported.

However, the parade has lost its status as a political demonstration, and will be classed as a commercial event, a city official, Claus Guggenberger, said.

The change in status means the organisers will have to pay some of the costs to clean up the mounds of rubbish left after the party.

Enric Nitzsche, spokesman for the Planetcom agency that runs the party, said the organisers had agreed to the July 21 date, but were hoping to win back "demonstration" status in court.

A small group of activists opposed to the parade had succeeded in blocking the original July 14 date by registering their own rally near the Tiergarten park.

Because the city treats applications for rallies on a first-come, first-served basis, the Love Parade lost out.

Other German cities quickly offered to host the party, but Berlin officials finally compromised by agreeing on July 21.

Parade organisers have already secured the second Saturday of July next year for the event.