Cops Crash California Beach Bash After TikTok Posts Create Crowd Control Issues

A post on TikTok led to dozens of arrests in Southern California this weekend when a massive beach party was broken up by police. The viral party invitation drew over 2,500 attendees to user Adrian’s “Birthday Kick Back” and prompted an emergency curfew declaration.

The party took place Saturday in Huntington Beach with some attendees traveling long distances to attend. People nationwide responded to the invitation post with promises to attend, though it’s not known how many were serious.

Huntington Beach police declared it an unlawful assembly, instituting an emergency curfew from 11:30 p.m. Saturday to 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The 149 arrests were made on charges ranging from failure to disperse and violation of the curfew to setting off illegal fireworks. Police said there were no major injuries, but businesses, police vehicles and a lifeguard tower were vandalized.

Those arrested were mostly adults and included 28 minors.

Erica Ramirez, an attendee, told CBS Los Angeles that she was tired of COVID-19 restrictions.

"It's like, 'don't you remember when you were young?' You just want to go and have fun, have parties, and we kind of lost that this year because of COVID," she said.

While the rate of COVID-19 cases has been steadily trending downward due to vaccination and survivors’ natural immunity, the average number of Americans who are dying from the coronavirus is 563.