Facebook crowd blamed for trashing English garden

A water fight announcement posted on social-networking site Facebook is being blamed for damaging an award-winning public garden in England.

More than 350 people descended on the Millennium Square garden in Leeds on Monday with water guns and buckets, leaving plants trampled, turf torn up, and water features full of foam and debris, according to a report in The Daily Mail, which included before and after photos of the garden. The centerpiece garden won a bronze medal at the 2004 Chelsea Flower Show, according to the report.

Organizers allegedly called the event a "success," but videos posted on YouTube showed participants running roughshod over the garden, with little regard for their impact on the garden, the newspapers quoted an elected official as saying.

"Frankly I'm appalled at the total disregard for people's ongoing enjoyment of this beautiful city center oasis," Councillor John Procter told the newspaper. "To destroy years of careful cultivation for a couple of hours of so-called 'fun' is unforgivable."