Britain's first Flashmob brings chaos to London's West End

A MOB OF, ER, FLASHMOBBERS descended on a furniture store near London's Tottenham Court road this evening, bringing chaos and confusion to the area.

An estimated crowd of around 200 mobbers tipped up at a sofa shop in the busy West End, meandering out of nearby pubs with instructions to call up their mates on their mobiles and praise the furniture in the store.

Mobbers were instructed to synchronise watches and then meet in a variety of London pubs, depending on their star sign. An organiser would "make themselves known, appear and pass out further instructions", said the instructions posted on a number of flashmob sites. Mobbers were asked to, "read the instructions carefully and then hide the piece of paper about your person so that it can not be seen".

The instructions provided the location of the mob site, and, read: "you should arrive there no earlier than 6:30pm and no later than 6:30pm. If you are early, stall, if you are late hurry!"

Around 200 people descended on the sofa shop, bringing the manager, who had already locked up for the evening, running out of a local boozer, thinking he was about to do some serious business. Derrick Robinson told Reuters: "My first reaction was I thought there was a fight. Then I thought it was a celebrity..."

The action was the UK's first flashmob. At the first European event, on July 24th, an estimated 100 to 300 people wandered into a books and music shop in Rome, asking shopkeepers for non-existent books. They dispersed after breaking out in a round of applause.

The Germans seem particularly taken with the idea of flash mobbing, which seems to have started in New York. Germany's first flash mob took place in Berlin on July 30th, when a man with a rainbow-coloured umbrella encouraged around 75 mobbers to "do some spontaneous gymnastics like jumping and appauding, turning around several times with arms spread", a witness reported. Here are some pics.

According to flashmob.com, "The flash mob phenomenon is an enigma. Like an optical illusion, if you study it for too long it begins to lose meaning. Why are grown adults getting excited about going to a department store and looking at a rug with other people? They might have all been bored, but they also shared each other's anxieties."

The site continues: "A flash mob is generally an event for people to physically connect in a public space. Maybe participants share some feeling of disconnectedness. Some would say communications technology has caused this and made us lazy and destroyed traditional social networks. Others would say governments and their henchmen, mass media, have shrouded our perception of truth and justice. Then there is the familiar cry against "corporatization" and globalization."

Further events are planned, of course. µ

L'Inqs
Cheesebikini.com.
Flashmob.com.
Londonmobs.
Flashmob.co.uk.
Flashmob.twoday.net.
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