44 injured, 10 fires as crowd hurled explosives at police
Thousands of people descended on Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula on July 4, city officials said. The area was already crowded with holiday revelers when social media posts drew a surge of juveniles and young adults to the Newport Pier area as night fell.
“Social media posts drew a large influx of juveniles and young adults to the Newport Pier area within a short period of time,” according to a statement from the city of Newport Beach. “As the crowd rapidly grew, individuals engaged in increasingly dangerous and unlawful behavior, blocking roadways, restricting emergency vehicle access and throwing explosive mortars, fireworks and other projectiles at police officers, into densely packed crowds and near families with children.”
Joe DeJulio, president of the Newport Beach Police Association, said in a Facebook post that “a large group of agitators invaded Newport Beach, spurred on by an alleged ‘TikTok Takeover’” while the nation celebrated its semi-quincentennial.
The police made 402 arrests over the weekend, a sharp increase from 60 arrests during the same period last year, authorities said. The Newport Beach Fire Department responded to 102 emergency incidents that Saturday, including 10 fires, and took 44 patients to local hospitals, six of whom were trauma patients.
Police deployed mounted officers on horseback to control the crowd, according to viral videos. The city said the response was the result of “months of planning and preparation,” with 17 regional law enforcement agencies and more than 350 officers from the Newport Beach Police Department on duty.
The majority of those arrested were not Newport Beach residents, the Los Angeles Times reported. Arrest logs showed individuals from Arizona, Nevada and other areas of California, with ages ranging from 15 to 25, according to NBC LA.