A viral social media app TikTok "kickback" beach party on Saturday went off course after police clamped down on illegal assembly and arrested at least 150 people in Southern California.
Seattle Police Department said on Friday that they were aware of the planned beach gathering, which originated from a TikTok user who invited people to his birthday party using the hashtag #AdriansKickBack. The content had amassed more than 270 million views as of Monday.
The Huntington Beach party was deemed an unlawful assembly by police, who apprehended at least 149 people, including 121 adults and 28 juveniles, for alleged offenses ranging from vandalism, illegal fireworks as well as failure to disperse, reported NBC News.
On Friday night, about 400 people reportedly showed up to a lifeguard tower, with the crowd increasing fivefold the next day on Saturday. At least 2,500 flocked to Alki Beach on Puget Sound across from Bainbridge Island and south of downtown Seattle, according to police.
The attendees of the illegal gathering, which stretched over two days at Huntington Beach, were believed to have traveled for the festivities from states as far as Michigan and Arizona, USA Today noted.
Videos from Saturday night made rounds on TikTok and revealed local police in riot helmets, firing less-lethal rounds at rowdy partygoers, who reportedly hurled bottles, rocks, and fireworks at officers.
The social media posts also unveiled the crowd partying wildly on the beach, which ultimately led to some fights between partygoers.
Law enforcement claimed that further arrests were made after an aggressive robbery erupted in addition to “multiple fights and assaults.” At one point, one partier allegedly performed a striptease atop a police cruiser as loud music pumped and officers attempted to break up the large groups of the crowd, reported the Seattle Times.
The wild revelers then proceeded to march their way from the beach into the downtown area, leaving businesses, police vehicles, and a lifeguard tower marred as they ran amok from the newly tasted freedom at the back of COVID-19 restrictions imposed across the U.S. amid the pandemic.
“It just started getting worse,” bystander Laura Klees, who was eating dinner in the area at the time, told the local media. “Then things got really crazy. You’d see mobs run this way, that way. Then they mobbed the pier.”
The crowd reportedly left the area by 11:00 p.m and the Seattle Parks and Recreation has since shut down the beach following the incident, which went viral on TikTok dubbed as the "Washington Kickback" and the "Alki Beach Kickback."
In Seattle, large crown gatherings are currently illegal amid the rising COVID-19 cases across the globe. Under the "Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery" plan, only events of up to 50 percent capacity are authorized indoors while outdoor conventions are limited to 400 people.
If things go as planned, all capacity constraints are scheduled to be lifted on June 30. However, a much earlier full reopening is also on the table if the vaccination rate strikes at least 70 percent of Washingtonians over the age of 16.
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