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Hundreds of Facebook users crash teen's birthday party

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Hundreds of Facebook users crash teen's birthday party
Photo: DPA

Some 1,500 people showed up outside the house of a Hamburg girl celebrating her 16th birthday on Friday, after she posted an invite on social networking site Facebook but mistakenly listed the party as a public event.

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"Unfortunately, she forgot to mark the celebration as private," police spokesman Mirko Streiber told news agency DPA.

The girl, named as Thessa, cancelled the party after 15,000 people RSVP'd to her "sweet sixteen" birthday bash via Facebook.

Police broke up the party at 1:55 am on Saturday morning. More than 100 officers were at the scene. Six revelers were arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery and property damage, but they have since been released.

Thessa opted to celebrate her birthday elsewhere.

Police said some people were injured after they stepped on pieces of broken glass. "Multiple units" were stationed outside the family's house, a spokesman said, and several streets were closed off. The family also hired a private security company.

As the evening wore on, there were isolated incidents of bottles and firecrackers being thrown toward the police.

"There were stones, bottles and fireworks flying, and party guests took apart (people's) front gardens," Streiber said. "Fences were trampled."

Some revelers opted to enjoy the celebrations from garage rooftops on the street.

"If you are not all that familiar with Facebook, in the future you should look closely at the user conditions before you send out invites," Streiber said.

DPA/DAPD/arp

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