Fireworks, fights and cops on horses: Hundreds arrested at Fourth of July celebration in Newport Beach

A Fourth of July celebration erupted into chaos in Newport Beach, leading to more than 400 arrests by local law enforcement.

Officers were dispatched to the Newport Peninsula about 7 p.m. Saturday following reports that large crowds were lighting fireworks and fighting, per City News Service.

Digital footage obtained by The Times showed large aerial fireworks lighted at close range, while another video showed fireworks being thrown by an unknown individual into the crowd. In another clip obtained by The Times, one individual with a Spider-Man mask was seen climbing a traffic light before leading the crowd in a chant: “USA, USA, USA.”

Emily Alcala, 18, who traveled from Las Vegas to Newport and stayed with family nearby, described the scene as terrorizing.

“It’s very unsafe to have fireworks popped in the middle of crowds,” Alcala said. “There was a firework to your left, [then] you run to your right and there was a firework [there]. It was very chaotic. There was no way that you could go that was safe at all.”

Other videos uploaded to social media showed individuals carrying broken street signs and looting at the nearby Pavilions grocery store on West Balboa Boulevard.

Mia Meyers, 19, was closing up shop at Sancho’s Tacos, which is located near Pavilions, around 5 p.m. when she witnessed swarms of people pounding on the business’ windows.

“ There was just a lot of chaos with underage drinking and yelling at the workers, including myself,” Meyers said.

By Sunday, local volunteers had taken to the beach to help clean up the remnants of the night before.

“I only saw that one video of the [Pavilions] parking lot. Thankfully, all of the locals around here helped pick up,” Meyers said. “All of the people that live around here like to keep Newport [Beach] a clean and beautiful environment, so they all worked together to help pick it up. When I came here this morning to work, I didn’t see any of it.”

The city launched its “Not in Newport” campaign across social media this summer to remind visitors that officials would have zero tolerance for public intoxication, illegal fireworks and other rowdy behavior. Fines for such infractions in West Newport Beach and the Peninsula — dubbed safety enhancement zones — will be tripled through July 6.

“We always have an influx of visitors to the city for the Fourth of July. It’s been like that for many years, and there’s always kind of a big youth movement that has kind of ebbed and flowed,” said Newport Beach Mayor Lauren Kleiman. “The last couple of years we’ve definitely seen an uptick, in particular kids from out of state. [It’s] not atypical, but I think that social media has really changed things.”

The beach town also set up a  one-strike revocation rule for short-term lodging permit holders whose tenants are in violation of public safety laws during the safety enhancement periods. Kleiman said many adults rent short-term rentals for young people but then do not accompany them as chaperones.

“ I know there’s a lot of social media coverage, but it was actually pretty orderly once [police] contained the area. The remaining young people who were not taking police commands were also arrested,” said Kleiman, who confirmed more than 400 arrests in the last 36 hours.

Many minors and individuals from outside of Newport Beach were in the roundup.

One officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries when a mortar was thrown at him.

“ We’re still processing everything. Come  Monday morning, we will all sit down and debrief  about what we can do better for next year,” Kleiman said.

The Newport Beach Police Assn. took to social media to applaud the efforts of authorities, who, according to its statement, were outnumbered 500 to 1.

“A large group of agitators invaded Newport Beach, spurred on by an alleged ‘TikTok Takeover,’” the Instagram post read, which was later attributed to Joe DeJulio, president of the police association. “These persons came to our city with the intent on causing harm, injury, and destruction, bringing harassment, disturbances, and mayhem.”

The Times reached out to the Newport Beach Police Department for more details, but it did not immediately respond.

Times staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.