Facebook blunder invites 15,000 to teen's 16th birthday party; 100 cops show up, too

By: Barry Leibowitz
Topics: Daily Blotter

AP Photo/Tony Avelar

(CBS) HAMBURG - Sure, Facebook is a way to invite all your friends to your birthday party. It's also a powerful tool to invite a lot of people who aren't your friends - say 15,000 - when you forget to mark the invitation "private."

That's what happened to a 16-year-old Germany teenager, whose birthday bash touted on Facebook also attracted 100 Hamburg cops, according to Reuters.

The teen named Thessa fled her home in the leafy Bramfeld section of Hamburg and alerted police, after 15,000 Facebook users accepted her invitation ahead of the Friday evening festivities, a police spokesman said.

Of that number, a crowd of 1,600 actually showed up, mostly jovial revelers who jammed into the street on a balmy evening in front of Thessa's house while about 100 police kept order.

The girl just plain forgot to mark her party as private.

Eleven people among the hordes who turned out were taken into custody for violations ranging from bodily harm and resisting arrest to property damage and violating explosives laws, Reuters reported.

"It was by and large a peaceful party," the spokesman said.

"There were some fires set alight, some acts of violence and with considerable alcohol consumption there was some property damage. There have been larger organized birthday parties in Hamburg but this may be the largest unorganized birthday party ever."

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