As millions of Americans celebrated the American dream on the Fourth of July, police battled teens in the latest episode of the California nightmare.
Violence in Newport Beach forced police to shut down businesses from the Newport Pier to the Pacific Coast Highway as they tried to clear the area of fighting, looting, and arson, according to the New York Post.
Police used mounted officers to clear the crowds, who threw bottles and other objects at them.
“Following an unlawful assembly declaration, more than 350 officers from the Newport Beach Police Department and 17 regional law enforcement agencies worked together to clear the area, disperse the crowd, restore emergency access, and protect residents and visitors,” Newport Beach police said in a press release, according to KABC-TV.
Authorities in California were forced to shut down businesses from Newport Pier to Pacific Coast Highway due to non-residents wreaking havoc on July 4th.
Hundreds of people reportedly swarmed police officers and threw debris at them before fighting each other.
Newport Beach… pic.twitter.com/fWjZZpzgaU
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 5, 2026
Police arrested more than 400 people in all.
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“It was going crazy,” Rylan Liegeois, who was at the beach at the time, said, according to CBS News. “Fireworks were going everywhere. You couldn’t even walk.”
Police in Newport Beach say they arrested 402 people during Fourth of July celebrations, and about half of them were taken into custody in a single incident in the Balboa Peninsula on Saturday night.
The chaos included fireworks, blocked roads, fights and the looting of a… pic.twitter.com/psJdA8sBeS
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 6, 2026
The trouble began at about 7 p.m. as fights began and fireworks were thrown into crowds, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Emily Alcala, 18, of Las Vegas, called the scene terrorizing.
July 4th: Americans celebrate the 250th birthday of this great nation
July 5th: California business owners call their insurance companies to cover all the riot and looting damages pic.twitter.com/7odI2xrD1N
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) July 5, 2026
“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.”
Mia Meyers, 19, was closing up shop at Sancho’s Tacos when crowds swarmed the business.
“ There was just a lot of chaos with underage drinking and yelling at the workers, including myself,” Meyers said.
The Newport Beach Police Association praised police, who it said were outnumbered 500 to 1.
“A large group of agitators invaded Newport Beach, spurred on by an alleged ‘TikTok Takeover,’” the post attributed to Joe DeJulio, president of the police association, said.
“These persons came to our city with the intent on causing harm, injury, and destruction, bringing harassment, disturbances, and mayhem,” the post said.
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