Over 2,500 people attend beach party in US after viral invite video, nearly 150 arrested

Amid the overwhelming COVID-19 situation, more than 2500 people turned up for a party on a beach in the United States. The birthday party invitation went viral on TikTok and this brought a massive crowd of people to Huntington Beach in Southern California. The chaotic celebration led to the unlawful assembly of over 2500 people, the police said. The police have arrested nearly 150 people as they refused to follow disperse orders. 

"As is the case with ALL large gatherings in #HuntingtonBeach, we have taken steps to prepare for a potential increase in visitors this weekend due to a promoted gathering that has received significant interest on social media," the police said. 

The massive gathering began with a now-deleted video posted on the popular social media app from a user named adrian.lopez517, who invited anyone to his birthday party by Huntington Beach’s fire pits on Saturday night, The Orange County Register reported Sunday. The Southern California City police said they were aware of the post and made preparations but the crowd became 'unruly' on May 22 night. Officers ordered the crowd to disperse and issued an overnight curfew on the beach. The police on Twitter said that they had imposed an emergency curfew that was effective from May 22 11:30 pm through May 23 at 5:30 am. 

2500 people gathered

The police said that a larger crowd had reached on the beach and estimated that atleast 2500 people gathered at the beach. The crowd then moved to the downtown area. The videos of the party have gone viral on social media that show people jumping from the Huntington Beach Pier’s pedestrian bridge to a cheering crowd below. The people in the video are also seen jumping atop slow-moving cars and shooting more fireworks. The people has arrested 121 adults and 28 juveniles who were booked for vandalism, illegally setting fireworks and violating curfew, reported by AP citing police spokeswoman Jennifer Carey. Huntington Beach's police department on May 22 posted on Twitter that they were preparing for a potential increase of people due to a promoted gathering. They warned that they will strictly enforce local rules and ordinances, including no alcohol or drug use on the beach and no fireworks.  

IMAGE: defnoodles/Twitter