PARIS, June 6: Satanists celebrated with rock concerts, Christian groups prayed against evil, betting shops cashed in and the Internet hosted a devilish debate on Tuesday, 6-6-6, the reputed Biblical reference to the devil.

The web was rife with warnings of bad things expected to happen on June 6, 2006, the first time in 100 years that the date coincided with 666.

Websites devoted to 666 were the reference point for rumours of meteors smashing into earth or of pregnant women trying to avoid giving birth to prevent their babies being born with the mark of the devil.

The figure 666 is named the ‘number of the beast’ in the closing chapter of the Bible, the ‘Book of Revelation’, otherwise known as ‘The Apocalypse of John’.

Chapter 13, Verse 18 of the book, with its apparent reference to the coming of the Devil — ‘his number is six hundred threescore and six’ — has for centuries absorbed meanings its author never intended. There is even a name for the fear of the number: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

To celebrate the so-called Devil’s Day, Chicago’s Internet-based Radio Free Satan hosted a massive party in Los Angeles, while a Netherlands-based evangelical organisation called on Christians in 21 countries to hold a 24-hour prayer vigil against Satanic forces.

The BBC News website reported that a woman who was turning 66 on 06/06/06, and was born weighing six pounds six ounces on June 6, was refusing to drive on her birthday to help avoid accidents.—AFP