Shanghai New Year stampede kills 36

Shanghai

A NEW Year stampede on Shanghai's historic waterfront killed at least 36 revellers and injured dozens more, mostly women, as police admitted that fewer officers than previously were on duty at the area.

While some witnesses said partygoers had scrambled for fake money thrown from a building, others downplayed its likelihood as the cause and said huge crowds were to blame.

The disaster, centred on a wide stairway leading up to a riverfront promenade, happened shortly before midnight on Wednesday as people packed the Bund area to usher in 2015, according to a city government statement.

In an unusually critical commentary, the official news agency Xinhua said it was a "wake-up call tha…