35 more minors charged after thousands descend for TikTok party in California beach town
After a birthday party promoted on TikTok resulted in a massive 2,500-person celebration in Huntington Beach and nearly 200 arrests in May, 35 more minors have now been charged, according to California police.
Huntington Beach police announced Friday that they filed charges against 35 minors for attending “Adrian’s Kickback” on May 22, the Los Angeles Times reported. More than 175 partygoers were arrested that weekend after police said attendees clashed with law enforcement on Main Street, some of them throwing objects, lighting fireworks and spray-painting stores, resulting in unlawful assembly being declared and a curfew enacted.
“This is just the beginning! We will be submitting more charges for both adults and juveniles. We will also be making additional arrests in the coming weeks for those that have been identified by our detectives since the event,” authorities said Friday on Facebook.
The minors face charges for “vandalism, failure to disperse, illegal use of fireworks and curfew violations,” according to the Los Angeles Times, citing police and arrest logs.
The party was billed in a TikTok video as “Adrian’s Kickback,” apparently after a song by Adrian Hour, an Argentinian DJ and music producer, Deadline reported. It’s not clear whose birthday the party was celebrating.
The video generated more than 3 million views, according to the publication. Police said they had been monitoring social media threads on the party plans.
Some partygoers even turned up for a pre-party event.
“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,” Erica Ramirez, who was at the raucous event, told KCBS.
The party began on a beach but moved into downtown later in the evening, KABC reported.
Police declared a curfew at 11:30 p.m., the Los Angeles Times reported. Officers initially arrested 121 adults and 28 juveniles.
No serious injuries were reported but some downtown Huntington Beach businesses were vandalized.
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 10:26 AM with the headline "35 more minors charged after thousands descend for TikTok party in California beach town."