Nine people were taken into custody and at least two officers were injured in a melee at Montrose Beach on Chicago’s North Side Sunday night.
Police responded to the scene of a “large disturbance” just after 7:30 p.m. in the 4400 block of North Simonds Drive, according to Chicago Police News Affairs.
During the incident an officer was struck with a bottle and was treated and released from Weiss Memorial Hospital, officials said.
A second officer was injured during the fight but refused medical treatment, police said.
Nine people were taken into custody early Monday morning and charges are pending, police said.
"This escalated," said area resident Tom Camacho. "I mean I've never seen anything this big."
The large crowd had gathered in the area for an unofficial concert.
Flyers sent around social media showed the "Tamborazo Beach Party" was set to be held at the beach Sunday. Park district officials said there were no permits issued for the event.
"The Chicago Park District did not issue a permit for the event that apparently took place at Montrose beach on Sunday evening," the park district said in a statement. "The illegal event was shut down by Chicago Police."
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"The police came, they told [the crowd] they needed to stop because they were really drunk," said Edna Velazquez, who works at Daniel's Tacos nearby. "They got mad, they started throwing bottles at police."
One witness said police were initially patroling the area, but decided to shut it down as "intoxicated people" started shouting explicit things at them.
"Once [people] started yelling things cops said 'Cut the music off. This has to end," said witness Jasmine Mejias. "Everybod kind of disbursed into a big circle and once that happened everybody was throwing bottles, beers, things of liquor-- one of the my friends got hit in the face."
Mejias said people began fleeing the scene as chaos erupted.
"It all just happened so fast. Your life is at risk at that point," she said. "You don't know what to expect. I really didn't pay attention to much but just running and getting out of there."
The area was left covered in trash and debris following the event, but city crews quickly worked to clear the area by Monday afternoon.
Witnesses estimate hundreds of police officers responded to the scene Sunday night and though the beach is scheduled to remain open until 11 p.m. Sundays, the area was closed by 8 p.m.
