– Fake currency –
Shainker was in Bund 18, a shopping and entertainment complex where witnesses said dollar-like notes had been thrown from a window, prompting a scramble to retrieve it.
“We saw people scattering money from Bund 18,” wrote one poster, but others pointed out a wide street separates the building from the staircase where the main stampede occurred.
Zhou Miaochen, who was standing near the steps, told AFP it was “impossible” for the notes to reach the crowd there.
“There was a large flow of visitors, some trying to reach the viewing deck and some trying to get down,” he said. “People started crashing into each other.”
Fake currency has long been burned at Chinese funerals to ensure the dead have money in the afterlife, and nowadays is also frequently used as an advertising medium.
Pictures posted online showed the slips of paper were a similar size, shape and colour as US currency, but emblazoned with the logo of M18, a nightclub in the building, and stamped “New Year 2015”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping demanded an immediate investigation into the cause, Xinhua reported. State broadcaster China Central Television’s main news channel treated Xi’s earlier New Year address as the day’s top news item, replaying the speech several times.
About The Author
