Thousands dance in Rotterdam rave

The event attracted some of the biggest names in techno music

Hundreds of thousands of techno music fans have danced through the streets of the Dutch city of Rotterdam, taking part in the Fast Forward Dance Parade.

More than 30 music floats, manned by some of the biggest names in the genre,made their way through the city.

Organisers say the event could be the biggest of its kind in Europe, after Berlin's Love Parade was cancelled this year because of a lack of sponsors.

Police manned the route and there were no reports of major violence.

Celebrated DJs Ferry Corsten, Michel de Hey, Kevin Saunderson and the UK's Dave Clarke all performed at Saturday's festival.

The 8th annual parade, which started at noon (1000 GMT), winds down with an all-night party which some 50,000 people are expected to attend.

Organiser Mark Rouwenhorst said the parade had international appeal and had attracted between 400,000 and 500,000 people this year.

"There are many package tours from Britain and traditionally we get a lot of German and Belgian participants," he said.