BERLIN - Berlin's Love Parade techno party returned to the streets Saturday after a three-year gap.

Thousands of people, including musclebound men and bikini-clad women, danced and whooped as 40 trucks carried DJs between the German capital's landmark Brandenburg Gate and Victory Column.

Techno fans dance in the streets to celebrate the world's biggest open-air street party with the motto 'Loveparade 2006 - The Love is Back' in Berlin, July 15, 2006. Scantily clad techno music lovers danced through the streets of Berlin on Saturday as the world's biggest street party, the Love Parade, returned to the German capital after a two year absence and just one week after the World Cup concluded. [Reuters]

However, the crowd appeared far short of the 1 million visitors that organizers had hoped for. Police estimates were not immediately available.

The parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999.

The event once drew thousands of young tourists and spawned similar parades in several countries.

However, financial problems forced the cancellation of the increasingly commercialized Berlin parade in 2004 and 2005.

Rainer Schaller, a German businessman, is trying to revive the concept by attracting more sponsors and offering additional types of electronic music, such as trance and drum and bass.

This year's parade ends Saturday evening with shows by internationally renowned DJs, including Paul van Dyk and Westbam.