Pillow Fight Leads To San Francisco Wanting Flash Mob Ban

San Francisco authorities plan on banning flash mobs after a Valentine's Day pillow fight left a $20,000 cleanup bill

The idea of flash mobs – crowds appearing in public places, summoned either by text messages or websites – has been around for a few years now. But San Francisco wants to ban them in the city, according to the Guardian.

The reason is a flash mob pillow fight on Valentine’s Day. It’s become an annual event, and by itself that shouldn’t have been too bad, but rain caused the feathers to block drains, flooding streets and businesses. The bill for the cleanup was $20,000.
Although organizers had asked the participants (estimated between 1,500 and 3,000 people) to "practise responsible fun and help clean up," many didn’t heed the request.

"It was quite a mess, much more than we have experienced in previous years," said Mohammed Nuru, the city’s deputy director of public works. "Everywhere was feathers."

City authorities have said they might try to ban the event unless organizers apply for permits and pay for clean up. The problem, however, is that they don’t know how to contact them.