Duisburg, Germany (dpa) - Calls grew Friday for the resignation of Duisburg mayor Adolf Sauerland in the wake of a music festival tragedy that killed 21, a day ahead of a public memorial service in the city.

A fatal crowd panic occurred at the Love Parade dance music festival on July 24, as an access tunnel was overfilled with party-goers trying to reach the event. Some 25 people out of the over-500 injured remain in hospital, police said.

The number of those who attended the festival is disputed, with estimates ranging form between 400,000 and 1.4 million people.

Sauerland′s own Christian Democrat (CDU) party colleagues have joined the voices calling for him to resign, even ahead of the publication of an official report into the disaster.

"As head of the city administration, he has the responsibility," said CDU interior spokesman Hans-Peter Uhl.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a memorial service on Saturday.

An ecumenical church service will take place accompanied by a live screening at the Duisburg football stadium for up to 25,000 people. Some 550 places at the Salvatorkirche, the city′s main protestant church, have been reserved for relatives of the dead as well as the injured.

Duisburg′s Love Parade event was conceived as part of the Ruhr Valley area′s European Capital of Culture 2010 status. The Ruhr2010 campaign′s organizer, Fritz Pleitgen, who was also involved in the Love Parade administration, said that Sauerland had not been in control of the situation.

"Sauerland has been a very popular mayor, but has obviously not stepped up to the situation," he said.

Sauerland claims that he did not sign any official permission for the event and therefore is not directly to blame.

A preliminary report issued by regional police on Wednesday laid the blame squarely with the private organiser of the event, Rainer Schaller, saying that agreed security measures had not been implemented.

On Thursday the funeral of a 19-year-old woman killed in the crush on Saturday took place near the city of Mainz. dpa kll jbl hl Author: Jeff Black