A police order ahead of the Lag B'Omer tragedy in Meron reveals that law enforcement warned of a series of potential dangers that, if properly dealt with, could have prevented the disaster resulting in the deaths of 45 individuals, according to a Channel 13 News report.
According to the report, the Northern District Police precinct presented a finding spanning over a hundred pages describing potential safety issues and pointing out the necessary measures for preventing a calamity from taking place. Among other recommendations, police say they warned of "pressure at the entrances and at the site itself, as well as the potential for the collapse of buildings and stage areas."
The document includes a reference to one compound that had been marked as the most problematic - the lighting compound of the Toldot Aharon hasidic group. "Despite additions to the stage area, it is clear that it is too narrow to accommodate the amount of expected participants and therefore preparations must be made to expand it," read the report. This red light failed to make an impression on the powers to be. The passage between the Toldot Aharon and Toldot Avraham-Yitzhak compounds remained exceedingly narrow and ended up as the sight of the disaster.
Police, it should be noted, specifically demanded the expansion and upgrade of the lighting complexes of the Toldot Avraham-Yitzhak and Toldot Aharon Hasidim. Their suggestions were heeded in the former, while the latter remained untended.