Christmas Lights chaos: Birmingham council defends event
Millennium Point christmas lights
"Due to the unprecedented amount of people that turned up and were pressing against the perimeter fence, the fence was breached," he said.
But he denied the council had misjudged the interest in the free concert, and said the perimeter fence was introduced this year because of concerns over how many people would turn up.
"We had a concert last year with the Sugababes and Alesha Dixon and we didn't do this," he said.
"We were conscious of numbers and that's why we introduced this perimeter fence.
"The fence was fine, it was the pressure of people outside the perimeter fence that was the issue.
"We took the decision very quickly with the emergency services to cancel the event which was the correct decision.
"We had a plan which we put in place very quickly."
Mr Hollingworth said he had met council officers today to check every measure planned had been put in place.
But he said consideration would have to be given as to whether the council staged similar free events in the future.
He added: "The Christmas lights switch-on has grown year on year. It started on one of the smaller squares in the city and has grown so now is in Millennium Point.
"We have to look at the space we have in the city for such an event in terms of whether we have free concerts in the future."
Today MP Khalid Mahmood, who represents the Perry Barr area of the city, said the council had had a lucky escape.
He said: "This could have been far far worse than it was, we are very very lucky.
"There was no real assessment of what the dangers were and how many people there could be.
"Of course the young people are going to be excited by the whole thing, it was a good thing to do, but again the council did not organise it properly," he added.
"I am going to be writing to the chief executive asking who was responsible for doing the safety assessments, and what measures will be taken against those who failed to deliver in ensuring the safety of people there."
Later today the city is to host its annual Reindeer Parade and lights switch-on event, but Mr Hollingworth said they did not predict any repeat of yesterday's crowds as it was more of a "family event" without the draw of top pop acts.
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