HAMBURG, Germany, July 5 (UPI) -- German authorities are demanding a crackdown on parties promoted on Facebook because they draw too many people and can get out of hand.
Officials say steps are needed to prevent situations in which scores of uninvited guests get wind of private parties over the social-media service and then overwhelm the hosts.
"If public order and safety are put at risk, then Facebook parties must be banned in advance," Uwe Schunemann, the interior minister for the state of Lower Saxony, told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said other officials in other German states expressed similar misgivings about incidents such as a Hamburg teenager's Sweet 16 party that ended with 1,600 crashers showing up along with 100 police officers who made 11 arrests.
Critics of the idea said blanket bans probably would not work, but teenagers in particular needed to be more cautious about announcing parties on Facebook.
