Germany to ban parties organised on Facebook for public safety

London, July 5 (ANI): German Interior Ministers have called for parties organised on Facebook to be banned after a series of gatherings advertised on the website descended into violence.

According to the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, authorities said parties promoted on the social networking site should be prohibited in advance if police believe they pose a threat to law and order.

Last month 100 Hamburg police made 11 arrests when 1,600 people gatecrashed a 16-year-old girl's birthday.

The girl, who had to flee the party, had apparently forgotten to switch on her Facebook privacy settings when inviting friends to the celebration.

Later in the same month in the town of Wuppertal, police arrested 41 partygoers and 16 people were injured when 800 users of the social networking site caused havoc at another party.

"If public order and safety are put at risk, then Facebook parties must be banned in advance," the Telegraph quoted Uwe Schunemann, the centre-right Christian Democrats' interior minister for the state of Lower Saxony, as saying.

Ralf Jager, interior minister for North-Rhine Westphalia, added if "a Facebook party was dangerous to participants and third parties" police should prohibit it.

Joachim Hermann, his counterpart from Bavaria, said the website had the ability to turn "a harmless birthday party into a massive security problem".

However, critics of the proposal questioned just how police would monitor Facebook chatter for evidence of a large party and - how they would impose a ban. (ANI)