29 more arrested in downtown Huntington Beach on Sunday night as chaotic weekend concludes

Police arrested 29 more people Sunday night in downtown Huntington Beach in the aftermath of a wild TikTok party, and an unlawful assembly was declared for the second straight night.

The gathering was much smaller than that of the night before, when an estimated 2,500 people moved from the beach to the Main Street area, and 149 ended up being arrested. The event, dubbed “Adrian’s kickback,” happened after Adrian Lopez’s TikTok video inviting people to the beach to celebrate his birthday went viral.

Sunday’s gathering was estimated at about 150 people, Huntington Beach Police Department spokeswoman Jennifer Carey said, and started around the Pier Plaza area.

The 29 arrests were for violations including firing dangerous and illegal fireworks, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and failure to disperse, Carey said. Sixteen adults and 13 juveniles were arrested.

Carey said the unlawful assembly was declared when some in the crowd started throwing fireworks at police officers.

“Obviously, we had a large police presence in the area [Sunday] night, in preparation for something,” she said. “We were monitoring the situation. We had no problem with the large gathering taking place, until they started throwing fireworks at the officers.”

Everything was business as usual in Huntington Beach on Monday following a wild weekend where almost 180 people were arrested after crowds gathered for “Adrian’s kickback,” a viral birthday party advertised on TikTok.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

According to police arrest logs, a majority of the people arrested Sunday night were not from Huntington Beach. Some were from as far as the Central Valley, like two Bakersfield men who were arrested for fireworks charges.

The cleanup after Saturday night was swift. A community cleanup on Sunday afternoon was advertised on social media. By the time Councilman Dan Kalmick tweeted a picture shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, Main Street appeared to be back to normal.

“Well done HB Public Works on getting downtown cleaned up and to all of the volunteers in our community for helping too!” Kalmick tweeted. He also thanked local and regional law enforcement and asked residents to spend some money downtown this week to support local businesses.

A GoFundMe was started by Jodi McKay of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum to support 40 local artists whose exhibits were destroyed Saturday night in the melee.

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