Vic: Police defend reponse to wild house party
09 Jan 2009 1:02 PM
MELBOURNE, Jan 9 AAP - Victoria Police have defended their decision to break up a wild teenage house party in Melbourne overnight.
Party organiser Mark Marangoni, who claimed an "idiot" friend advertised the event on social networking site Myspace, has blamed police for things getting out of hand.
The night ended with youths bombarding the police with bottles and rocks.
However, Assistant Commissioner Bob Hastings said police actions at the Werribee home on Thursday night were appropriate.
"In terms of the police response, our response is always measured, we make a risk assessment of the situation and we provided the necessary resources to deal with the problem," he said.
"We had calls here that the situation was developing and potentially getting out of hand and we believe police responded adequately and appropriately."
Eighteen-year-old Mr Marangoni told reporters at the scene the party at his father's house was only supposed to be a small gathering of friends.
"This was unexpected, it was only supposed to be my friends," he said on Friday.
"My mate was an idiot and put something in MySpace inviting 100 guys and 100 girls.
"No more parties, I'll never do it again. The police grabbed people and pushed them, I'm feeling a bit tired today."
Assistant Commissioner Hastings said police had so far interviewed four people and investigations were continuing.
He also said police were still looking into a father's involvement and were not sure if any charges would be laid.
"I am asking people, if you're going to engage in this sort of activity, think about the consequences of what that means," he said.
"You're putting other people at risk ... and you're disrupting neighbours. To me, it's dumb."
He also had a message for anyone else thinking of hosting a similar party.
"I would hope that this doesn't spark a whole host of different stupid behaviours because we won't tolerate it," he said.
