Someone planned a flash mob event called “Hell Night At Livingston Mall” for Friday, March 4th from 6:30-9:30, but it never happened. Mall Security was aware of the facebook page and made plans to deal with it. They brought in a small army of law enforcement patrolling the mall and parking lots:  NJ Transit Justice Team, Essex County Rapid Deployment Team, Livingston Police, and even set up a Mobile Command Center. The preparations were taken following large groups of teens gathering for similar mob scenes in nearby South Orange and at the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth. In addition, the opening ceremonies for the Essex County Education Association’s Pride in Education were canceled, and parents of Livingston and neighboring communities made attempts to keep their teenage children away from the mall. In the end, the page was removed and the event called off on Thursday night.

http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?regionId=2&articleId=275510&position=1&news_type=news

http://livingston.patch.com/articles/all-quiet-at-the-livingston-mall

I don’t know what they were expecting, but having attended a couple of flash mobs myself, I am not sure what all the anxiety was about. If you don’t know what a flash mob is, basically a bunch of people, which could number in the hundreds or more gather at a specific place and time and then participate in a behavior that is unusual or out of the ordinary. Previous ones that I have been part of or witnessed usually drew lots of onlookers and created a little bit of a stir, but nothing more. A Mall should be overjoyed that an event was planned there that would bring in so many people and entertain their customers. I don’t know what the facebook page said because it was removed and it cant be accessed any longer. Maybe the page told the participants to rob as many stores as they could and to vandalize and set fire to the Mall. Who knows? Here is a video of what happened at the Jersey Gardens Mall Flash Mob by Art Matters, one of the events that had them so terrified.

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