The first flash mob took place in New York in May 2003 and
quickly spread to Europe, with the first UK event taking place last
week when 200 people met up at a London furniture store, admired
the sofas and disappeared, much to the bemusement of store manager,
Derrick Robinson.
He admitted later to the BBC, "My first reaction was I thought
there was a fight. Then I thought it was a celebrity". He is not
complaining though – the resulting press coverage has more than
made up for it.
The bizarre events are usually kept secret, with directions and
instructions being given to participants right at the last minute.
Previous examples include a mob tweeting like birds and crowing
like roosters in Central Park, or gathering outside the American
Embassy in Berlin – to drink a toast to 'Natasha'.
More UK events are planned, the next one being in London on 22nd
August, with another in Edinburgh on 28th August.
But organisers of the events are not blind to other forces using
the phenomenon. US site cheesebikini.com warns
participants, "remember that a corporation could easily create fake
flash mobs designed to spur more business to its retail outlets.
Don't be a sheep!"
And protest groups are already considering how best to integrate
flash mobbing into their strategies. Inevitably this will have an
effect on how flash mobs are regarded from a legal and police
enforcement point of view, and it may be that event organisers will
soon find themselves forced to obtain permits, as is required for
the more familiar type of public assembly – the march.
To date there seems to be little enforcement action taken with
regard to flash mobs, other than a police presence, but this is
expected to change. The first sign of increased police interest
came recently in Toronto when an event had to be cancelled as the
media and police presence outnumbered the mob itself.
