A water fight organised on the social-networking site Facebook has resulted in thousands of pounds worth of damage to Leeds' famous Millennium Square garden, built in honour of Nelson Mandela.

Leeds City Council claims that a group of 350 people, "armed with water pistols and buckets" answered the call to a Facebook invitation to stage a mass water fight.

The council said that "years of work" establishing the showpiece feature's exotic greenery was undone by the revelry.

The garden, which scooped a bronze medal at the 2004 Chelsea Flower Show, had plants trampled and torn up and fountains were emptied and filled with foam.

"Frankly I'm appalled at the total disregard for people's ongoing enjoyment of this beautiful city oasis," said councillor John Procter.

The 'flashmob' event was filmed and subsequently uploaded onto video-sharing websites such as YouTube.

One person commenting on the video on YouTube said that the event was a "tradition I dearly love" – even though it only started last year.

A less jovial poster laid the blame on the city's students: "Hopefully the CCTV will lead to arrests and the university will withhold your degrees".

A statement from Leeds City Council confirmed that the CCTV evidence would be examined.

"CCTV footage will be looked at by the police, which may be used to provide evidence which could lead to prosecutions for criminal damage," the statement said.

The organisers of the event have since apologised but said that they will be back again in 2009.

www.leeds.gov.uk
www.youtube.co.uk

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