Georgia’s Tybee Island was packed with people seeking co-ed parties during the annual Orange Crush Festival, where videos of brawls went viral on social media.
Video shared with Fox News Digital shows several women throwing haymakers, tearing off hair extensions and struggling on a pier as their tops come off.
A large number of onlookers were recording the melee, stirring up the fighters. The two-minute video also showed piles of trash scattered along the coast and glimpses of women exercising.
Tybee Island police said they are still sorting through extensive records from the past week and will update weekly incident reports and arrests.
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Two women throw punches during a brawl at Orange Crush in Georgia. (IAMSHO_NUFF/X)
The small police department and city, with a population of about 3,000 people, were overwhelmed all weekend.
Tens of thousands of students and alumni from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) filled the Peach State city for a spring break-like jamboree.
This year’s numbers were not available as of Monday afternoon, but an estimated 40,000 to 55,000 coed revelers flocked to the 3-square-mile island last year.
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While many of the co-ed revelers did not cause any problems, videos such as one shared by X user SHO’NUFF to Fox News Digital show several instances of crowds getting out of hand. Ta.
As police continue to compile records from the weekend, it’s unclear what sparked the fight seen on the video and whether anyone was arrested or issued citations.
Two women fight during Orange Crush on Tybee Island, Georgia. (IAMSHO_NUFF/X)
Watch the full video of the fight
The Orange Crush Festival is an annual event that started in the late 1980s for Jacksonville HBCU students and alumni, but moved to Tybee Island a few years ago.
Last year, an estimated 40,000 to 55,000 participants traveled to the area for a weekend of partying, drinking and fun, sometimes escalating into criminal activity such as street-level assault shootings, NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe said. (See photo) Under).
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“Despite the brawl, the Orange Crush Beach Party is rooted in celebrating student culture at Savannah State University and other historically black colleges and universities in the Southeast,” X user Sho’nuff wrote on FOX News・Told Digital. “Many even call it the new freaknik.”
Freakniks have a controversial history, starting as a picnic for HBCU students and alumni to celebrate the arrival of spring in Atlanta in the early ’80s, but its humble beginnings quickly grew into a movement of its own. Hundreds of thousands of students flooded into the city.
Freaknik was officially banned in 2010 due to its high crime rate, and its history is now part of a Hulu documentary.
Aerial drone footage shows a crowded beach on Tybee Island, Georgia, which has a population of 3,000 people. (Local News X)
Tybee Island Police Chief Tiffanti Hayes appeared to support X users’ sentiments about the event, calling the weekend a “success” in a Facebook post.
“Churches, businesses and individuals rallied around our team this past weekend and provided meals, snacks, drinks and lodging, all of which contributed significantly to our success,” Chief Hayes said. said.
“As we move toward the future, we look forward to working with our residents and guests to continue to make Tybee a safer place to live, work, and play.”
Tybee Island Police Chief Tiffanti Hayes said in a statement on Facebook that it was a “successful” weekend. (Tybee Island Police Department)
“Orange Crush Festival” Overview
In the early 1990s, Orange Crush had a reputation for being a wild, crime-filled weekend, and Savannah State University discontinued its involvement with the event in 1991 due to the high number of arrests and reports of violence.
According to a June 2021 article on Jacksonville.com citing the event’s website, the event closed two years ago in Jacksonville, Florida “due to lack of resources, limited parking, civil rights violations, and political injustice.” It is said that the location was moved to . The website has since been removed.
The event returned to Tybee Island last weekend for the first time since 2020.
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Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
