What started off as a birthday celebration ballooned into massive gatherings over the weekend in Huntington Beach, California, and required police to break up the parties, according to officials.
The party, originally posted to TikTok as a meetup called “Adrian’s Kickback” by user adrian.lopez517 on Wednesday, was intended to have people “pop out n celebrate my bday.” The post went viral throughout the week, spawning a hashtag that was viewed more than 203 million times on the app.
A gathering formed on both Friday and Saturday in Huntington Beach, with police dispersing crowds both nights.
“We are actively monitoring multiple social media posts advertising a large gathering on the beach this weekend. The safety & well-being of our residents, visitors, businesses & motorists is paramount, which is why the Huntington Beach Police Department is taking significant steps to prepare for the potential influx of visitors, including working closely with our regional public safety partners.”
“Toward that end, the HBPD will also be strictly enforcing all applicable laws & ordinances throughout the weekend,” the Huntington Beach Police Department tweeted on Friday.
The crowd began to arrive at 6:30 p.m on Saturday for the party, which was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. that night. It’s unclear when people began gathering on Friday.
Videos posted to TikTok of the two nights appear to show hundreds of people on Huntington Beach, both walking through the streets and on the beach. Other videos show people saying they had flown to California to attend the kickback.
One verified TikToker, TheSyncUp, posted videos that appeared to be from Saturday night and showed the bedlam on the beach. The video showed people climbing flag polls, crowding the roads and jumping off what appears to be an elevated road. The video also shows a line of police officers at the scene.
“What the f—, dude. The cops are firing paintballs at everyone now,” TheSyncUp says in the video.
Other videos show cars in the street doing donuts, with one red car’s tires appearing to smoke as a crowd filming on cell phones gathered around. Another video showed a white car doing donuts while passengers hung out the window. A third video also showed a white truck spinning its tires to kick up smoke before doing donuts in what appeared to be an intersection.
On Saturday, police deployed less-lethal weapons to break up the crowd that formed, according to NBC Los Angeles. The police reportedly began to break up the crowd after fireworks were used.
Police tweeted that drugs, alcohol and fireworks were prohibited on the beach and that it closed at 10 p.m.
An emergency curfew from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. was put in place and remained in effect for Sunday, Huntington Beach Police Department tweeted.
It was not immediately clear if any arrests took place.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
