A sleepy Dutch community was still recovering on Saturday from the aftermath of a sweet sixteen party whose invitation, for no clear reason, went viral, spawning a YouTube video, drawing impromptu partygoers by the thousands as well as riot police, and causing the young celebrant and her family to flee town.
Fires were set, a car was burned, shops were vandalized, six people were hurt and some 34 arrested, according to the BBC and the Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation.
“She posted the invitation on Facebook and sent it to friends, who then sent it to other friends and soon it spread like wildfire across the Internet,†a spokeswoman for the Groningen police, Melanie Zwama, told Agence France Presse, according to the BBC.
Haren, a town of 19,000 about 110 miles northeast of Amsterdam, had been girding for trouble all week after the youngster's Facebook party invitation, which had not been set to be private, ended up going out to a reported 30,000 people. Popular deejays endorsed the event, a Twitter account was born, and T-shirts were printed, sold and sported by some who descended on the town.
“Scum ran amok in our town,†said the town's mayor, Rob Bats, according to Britain's Channel 4.
A week and a half ago, a video posted on YouTube christened the event Project X Haren, an apparent reference to the film Project X, where three high schoolers' party gets madly out of control. Although the event was cancelled and officials pleaded for revelers not to come, some 3,000 did anyway, according to the BBC.
By Saturday, another Facebook page went up, Project Clean-X Haren, that by mid-afternoon had garner ed nearly 27,000 likes.
Other Project X parties emulating the film were thrown earlier this year in Houston, where one reveler was fatally shot, and in Miramar, Fla., where youngsters broke into a foreclosed come and caused $19,000 in damage, according to ABC News.
 A video on YouTube is said to show riot police trying to contain partygoers in Haren, The Netherlands.
