«O'zapft is! Auf eine friedliche Wiesn»
Queues constantly formed at the entrances to beer tents. Sometimes tents were closed due to overcrowding. Until October 4, more than 6 million visitors are expected at the world's largest folk festival. They have to pay more than 10 euros for a liter mug of beer.
Colorful, festive, and very traditional was the procession in folk costumes to the Wiesn (the site of the Oktoberfest). In historical attire, about 9,000 people and representatives of shooting clubs from several European countries walked through Munich towards the festival meadow. The sidewalks were filled with onlookers – after all, this is one of the largest and most colorful processions in the world in folk costumes.
Groups from all over Germany, from Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, and Poland followed each other in the seven-kilometer-long festive procession. On Saturday, the Lord Mayor of Munich Dieter Reiter, exactly at 12:00, tapped the keg with two strokes, poured the first mug of beer, and opened the folk festival with the words: «O'zapft is! Auf eine friedliche Wiesn». He handed the first mug of beer to the Prime Minister of Bavaria Horst Seehofer.
Not even an hour and a half had passed when medics had to tend to the first drunk person. A 50-year-old man was brought to the medical station at 13:20 on Saturday with alcohol poisoning. Last year, the first alcohol victim was registered only at 14:05.
The medics from the Red Cross also had a lot of work – on the first day they had to attend to over 500 patients, several people were taken to the hospital. A 22-year-old guy fell from a tent balcony, falling five meters; a young woman fell out of a window; during a knife fight, a 33-year-old man was seriously injured. As reported by the dpa agency, pickpockets also tried their luck in the crowd – and some were detained by the police.