Students freeze in Fife flash-mob

Students adopted these static positions for three minutes

Scores of students have taken part in what could be Fife's first flash-mob.

A huge crowd of people gathered on Market Street, St Andrews, on Thursday and at exactly 1630 GMT they all froze on the spot for three minutes.

After the event was suggested through the networking website Facebook, word spread among the town's student population and a huge crowd formed.

The phenomenon has been growing in popularity, with recent events in New York, London and Edinburgh.

Facebook phenomenon

Organiser Will Wright told the BBC Scotland news website: "Flash-mobbing is where a group of people all get together spontaneously and perform some sort of event.

"It can be anything from praying to the local town statue or wearing blue and hitting the floor on the count of three, or, as we're doing today, a big freeze."

More than 350 people confirmed they were taking part through the Facebook group, although the number of people who attended was not that high.

Onlookers were bewildered as the students held these poses

The event left puzzled looks on the faces of local shop workers and passers-by.

Participant Jassel Majevadia said: "St Andrews is a really good university. We've got great students and the fact that we all come together and take part in things like this... is a great thing."

The flash-mobbing trend is said to have started at Macy's department store in New York in 2003.

The increasing popularity of social-networking sites like myspace and Facebook has made organising them easier, prompting a growing interest.

Recently, a video was made of a huge "freeze" inside Grand Central station in the New York.

The film has received more than eight million hits on the video sharing website Youtube.

Last month, a similar event was staged outside the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.