Shanghai stampede: Fake cash ruled out as cause of deadly New Year’s Eve crush

Police have denied reports that the incident was caused by people rushing to pick up fake money thrown from a nearby building.

A memorial has been held for those killed, with mourners laying flowers along the Bund waterfront strip where the stampede took place just before midnight on New Year's Eve.

Initially it was suggested by some at the scene that fake bank notes raining down from the sky had caused the stampede, with people rushing to grab them.

The notes, being used as novelty drink coupons, were tossed into the street from a bar above.

Shanghai police said while CCTV footage did show some bills had been thrown from a bar in a building overlooking the Bund, which a small number of people picked up, this did not cause the crush.

"This incident happened after the stampede," police said in a brief statement.

Eyewitness Zhou Miaochen told the ABC the fake cash was "totally irrelevant" to the way events unfolded.

Mr Zhou said it was simply a case of too many people pushing to get a view of the river from a special platform.

"I was about to climb up, but as I arrived at the bottom of the stairs I realised I couldn't move anymore," he said.

"It was so crowded. So I was waiting and that's when the stampede happened."

Some were pushing up a large set of stairs and some pushing down."I saw layers of people," Mr Zhou said.

"Some on top off others had their eyes rolling back into their heads. They were fainting. People were trapped and couldn't move."

He said it was like a shifting wave of bodies. As people were being crushed on the staircase, he was at the bottom of it.

"We started rescuing people. Some jumped down and we caught them and placed them on the ground," he said, adding that many of those who died appeared to be Chinese tourists in Shanghai to ring in the New Year.

Authorities had shown some concern about crowd control in the days leading up to New Year's Eve, and moved official celebrations to another location for fear that just such a problem could occur along the Bund following the massive new year crowds there in recent times.

Some of those who have lost friends and family in the stampede have returned to the Bund to place flowers, but there have been reports that the flowers are being taken away by police as soon as the mourners leave.

In the run-up to New Year's Eve, event organisers in Shanghai cancelled an annual 3D laser show on the Bund, which last year attracted as many as 300,000 people.

On New Year's Eve, Beijing also cancelled a countdown event in the central business district, Chinese media said, due to police fears about overcrowding.

The Shanghai government said that an inquiry had begun, and that all other New Year events had been cancelled.