This is Huntington Beach, Calif., a seaside city and popular tourist spot, often referred to as Surf City USA.
On Sunday, the U.S. Open of Surfing ended with a victory for Alejo Muniz, the first Brazilian to win the eight-day competition.
Soon after, a fight broke out amongst a "rowdy group of young men," witnesses told the Los Angeles Times.
Then the rioting began.
From the Associated Press:
The crowd pulled down a stop sign, and a man used it to smash the front window of a bicycle shop, which was then looted. Other people brawled, threw bottles, toppled portable toilets, rocked a city truck and threw a chair into a fountain.
Another pic from downtown HB tonight.
Scott
@LinckHB
Another pic from downtown HB tonight.
Looters used this stop sign to break the windows in at Easyrider, a bicycle and skateboard shop.
"You see a mob of people running up the street," said Bert Etheredge, a salesman ... "That's when we decided to shut down the shop and turn off all the lights, lock everything and kind of go into hiding, if you will."
Surf, sun , sand and wait for it..... a mini riot following the U.S. Open of Surfing. http://t.co/LQgRXElDxw
Marc Martin
@latpix
Surf, sun , sand and wait for it..... a mini riot following the U.S. Open of Surfing. http://t.co/LQgRXElDxw
Police reportedly used tear gas and nonlethal ammunition to break up the riot. Several people suffered minor injuries, according to the AP.
The crowd dispersed by 9:30 p.m., police told the Times. Eight people were arrested.
