Andrea Flores
Los Angeles Times
July 6, 2026 - 5:34 am
A Fourth of July solemnisation erupted into chaos successful Newport Beach, starring to implicit 400 arrests by section instrumentality enforcement.
Officers were dispatched to the Newport Peninsula astir 7 p.m. Saturday pursuing reports that ample crowds were lighting fireworks and fighting, per City News Service.
Digital footage obtained by The Times showed ample aerial fireworks lighted astatine adjacent range, portion different video showed fireworks being thrown by an chartless idiosyncratic into the crowd. In different clip obtained by The Times, 1 idiosyncratic with a Spider-Man disguise was seen climbing a postulation airy earlier starring the assemblage successful a chant: “USA, USA, USA.”
Other videos uploaded to societal media showed individuals carrying broken thoroughfare signs and looting astatine the adjacent Pavilions market store connected West Balboa Boulevard.
Mia Meyers, 19, was closing up store astatine Sancho’s Tacos, which is located adjacent Pavilions, astir 5 p.m. erstwhile she witnessed swarms of radical pounding connected the business’ windows.
“ There was conscionable a batch of chaos with underage drinking and yelling astatine the workers, including myself,” Meyers said.
By Sunday, section volunteers had taken to the formation to assistance cleanable up the remnants of the nighttime before.
“I lone saw that 1 video of the [Pavilions] parking lot. Thankfully, each of the locals astir present helped prime up,” Meyers said. “All of the radical that unrecorded astir present similar to support Newport [Beach] a cleanable and beauteous environment, truthful they each worked unneurotic to assistance prime it up. When I came present this greeting to work, I didn’t spot immoderate of it.”
The metropolis launched its “Not successful Newport” run crossed societal media this summertime to punctual visitors that officials would person zero tolerance for nationalist intoxication, amerciable fireworks and different rowdy behavior. Fines for specified infractions successful West Newport Beach and the Peninsula — dubbed information enhancement zones — volition beryllium tripled done July 6.
“We ever person an influx of visitors to the metropolis for the Fourth of July. It’s been similar that for galore years, and there’s ever benignant of a large younker question that has benignant of ebbed and flowed,” said Newport Beach Mayor Lauren Kleiman. “The past mates of years we’ve decidedly seen an uptick, successful peculiar kids from retired of state. [It’s] not atypical, but I deliberation that societal media has truly changed things.”
The formation municipality besides acceptable up a one-strike revocation regularisation for short-term lodging licence holders whose tenants are successful usurpation of nationalist information laws during the information enhancement periods. Kleiman said galore adults rent short-term rentals for young radical but past bash not travel them arsenic chaperones.
“ I cognize there’s a batch of societal media coverage, but it was really beauteous orderly erstwhile [police] contained the area. The remaining young radical who were not taking constabulary commands were besides arrested,” said Kleiman, who confirmed much than 400 arrests successful the past 36 hours.
Many minors and individuals from extracurricular of Newport Beach were successful the roundup.
One serviceman sustained non-life-threatening injuries erstwhile a mortar was thrown astatine him.
“ We’re inactive processing everything. Come Monday morning, we volition each beryllium down and debrief about what we tin bash amended for adjacent year,” Kleiman said.
The Newport Beach Police Assn. took to societal media to applaud the efforts of authorities, who according to their connection were outnumbered 500 to 1.
“A ample radical of agitators invaded Newport Beach, spurred connected by an alleged ‘TikTok Takeover,’” the Instagram station read, which was aboriginal attributed to Joe DeJulio, president of the constabulary association. “These persons came to our metropolis with the intent connected causing harm, injury, and destruction, bringing harassment, disturbances, and mayhem.”
The Times reached retired to the Newport Beach Police Department for much details, but it did not instantly respond.
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