Vic: Party teen unrepentant, blames police for violence
09 Jan 2009 12:01 PM
MELBOURNE, Jan 9 AAP - A teenager who threw a wild party in which police were attacked has blamed officers for causing the event to get out of hand.
Mark Marangoni told reporters the party at his father's house at Werribee, in Melbourne's western suburbs, 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."
Mark and a friend later raced off from his Jika Court house to escape a media pack camped outside and jumped on a bus nearby.
The trouble began late on Thursday night when teenagers began pelting police with bottles and rocks from a neighbour's driveway when officers tried to break up the party.
Six young men were arrested and two police vehicles were damaged.
Mark's father, Imerio Marangoni, was unrepentant and blamed police for provoking partygoers.
"We never made any noise for people, they (police) started kicking people," Mr Marangoni told reporters outside his house.
Mr Marangoni, who appeared to be rambling incoherently, also said he could do whatever he wanted and threatened anyone who had a problem with him.
A Werribee resident, Lori McQueen, had a heated confrontation with him earlier on Friday morning.
"We shouldn't put up with this nonsense, the parents of the 200 kids should get out of this town, we don't want this nonsense," she said.
Gary Buckley, who lives behind the Marangonis' house, said another party was held there six months ago.
"I complained about his caged dogs barking all day," Mr Buckley told AAP.
Another Jika Court resident, who gave his name as Simon, said he was shocked by Thursday night's events but said he thought police did a good job.
"The cops did as well as they could with so many people there," the father-of-two said.
"They shut the music off, the crowd started to get a bit rowdy and picked up rocks but I felt a bit better with cops there."
AAP gr/szp/sjm/mo
