Facebook invitation for birthday party in Germany attracts 1,500 guests, 100 pol

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Facebook invitation for birthday party in Germany attracts 1,500 guests, 100

police

By Kirsten Grieshaber, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 3 hours ago

BERLIN - Better check your Facebook settings before posting a party invitation

online.

A teenage girl in Germany who forgot to mark her birthday invitation as private

on Facebook fled her own party when more than 1,500 guests showed up and around

100 police officers, some on horses, were needed to keep the crowd under

control.

Eleven people were temporarily detained, one police officer was injured, dozens

of girls wearing flip-flops cut their feet on broken glass and firefighters had

to extinguish two small fires at the 16th birthday party in Hamburg, police

spokesman Mirko Streiber said Sunday.

The birthday girl, identified only as Thessa, went into hiding, Streiber said,

but " nonetheless the party was a hit. "

Thessa had initially only wanted to ask some friends over to her home in

Hamburg-Bramfeld when she posted her invitation on Facebook, but mistakenly she

published it so that everyone on Facebook could see it.

The invitation quickly went viral, and some 15,000 people confirmed online they

would come to the party — without even knowing the girl, weekly paper Bild am

Sonntag reported.

When Thessa's parents found out, they made their daughter cancel the party,

informed police and hired a private security service to protect their home on

Friday night.

Despite public announcements in Hamburg that the party had been cancelled, some

1,500 teenagers and young adults showed up on the street in front of Thessa's

home, Streiber told The Associated Press.

" We had cordoned off the house, some 100 police were on the ground, four of them

on horses — but that did not keep the kids from celebrating, " Streiber said.

Some revelers held up signs asking " Where is Thessa? " others brought birthday

presents and homemade cake, there was lots of alcohol and the crowd chanted

again and again, " Thessa, celebrating a birthday is not a crime, " — in obvious

relation to the massive police presence, Bild reported.

The police officer was injured when he tried to keep a party reveler from

breaking off the Mercedes-Benz logo of his patrol car.

" It was sheer insanity but mostly peaceful, " Streiber summed up the night with a

laugh.

As for Thessa — she was nowhere to be seen. Police confirmed she " was not at

home that night " and Bild reported that she celebrated quietly with her

grandparents at an undisclosed location.