Riot police called to illegal Facebook rave over roof collapse fears

LONDON - London’s riot police was recently called to evacuate two thousand teenagers from a Facebook party at a town house on Park Lane, amid fears that the roof was about to collapse.

The partygoers allegedly turned violent as they spilt out onto the street among some of London’s most renowned hotels and expensive homes on February 11 night.

Police officers armed with shields and batons held the crowd back after a number began hurling bottles at ambulance paramedics and firefighters who were also called to the scene.

A spokesman from Scotland Yard said that the trouble started at about 11pm after several teenagers were seen climbing onto the roof of the five-storey town house, raising concerns that it may collapse.

Park Lane and Oxford Street, London’s busiest road, were shut off while police dealt with the situation.

Some eyewitnesses said several of the teenagers had told them the gathering was a squat party arranged via the social networking website Facebook.

Andrew Bentham an account manager at a communications firm got caught in the chaos on his way home.

“There are thousands of teenagers on the street and it is getting violent, the riot police are trying to deal with them, but it is looking pretty volatile,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“I asked some of them what was happening and they told me it was a Facebook party gone wrong, apparently the roof of the building they were in was in danger of collapsing, so they have come spilling out onto the street,” he said.

Another onlooker said: “There was a stand off between the police and a huge group of teenagers.”

“The police had their shields and batons raised and the teenagers were stood about 30 yards away being very rowdy. The atmosphere was pretty tense,” the onlooker added.

“We have been attending a call to a building in Park Lane after reports that in excess of 2,000 young people were holding a large party.

“Some people were seen climbing onto the roof and there is concern that the roof may have become unsafe,” a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.

“Police have attended to get the partygoers removed for their own safety. We were called at 11pm and the situation was being brought under control within the first 90 minutes.

“The London Ambulance service and Fire Brigade have also been in attendance and there are reports that they have had bottles thrown at them,” the spokesman added.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said there had been no injuries. (ANI)