Tybee Island in Georgia became the center of chaos during the annual Orange Crush Festival, with videos of fights and unruly behavior going viral on social media.
During the festival, which attracts tens of thousands of party seekers, videos surfaced showing women engaging in violent brawls, with some throwing punches and ripping hair extensions off.
Onlookers encouraged the fights while recording the chaos, capturing scenes of litter strewn across the beach and individuals twerking.
The small police department of Tybee Island, with a population of about 3,000, struggled to handle the overwhelming number of attendees over the weekend.
The festival, originally intended for students and alumni of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), has grown significantly in recent years, drawing crowds of 40,000 to 55,000 people to the island.
While many attendees were well-behaved, incidents of unruly behavior were captured on video. The exact cause of the fights and whether any arrests were made remain unclear as police continue to review records from the weekend.
The Orange Crush Festival, initially held in Jacksonville, is now hosted on Tybee Island. Despite the chaos, organizers emphasize that the event is meant to celebrate the student culture of HBCUs in the Southeast.
The festival has drawn comparisons to Freaknik, a historic event that began as a picnic for HBCU students in Atlanta in the 1980s. However, Freaknik’s history is controversial, marked by high crime rates, leading to its official ban in 2010.
+ There are no comments
Add yours