40 Arrested in Huntington Beach Melee : Crime: Annual roving Fourth of July party rages out of control for half an hour. Five officers are injured while trying to subdue crowd that burned trash and furniture.

Forty men were arrested after a midnight melee in this beachside city Monday, a rampage in which residents’ furniture and trash was set ablaze in a huge street bonfire and five police officers suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

The roving Fourth of July party near the beach in this city’s downtown area raged out of control for half an hour, said Police Lt. Luis Ochoa. Hundreds of people tossed cardboard boxes, garbage cans, sofas and lawn furniture into the fire before 50 officers in riot gear stormed the area and broke up the crowd, Ochoa said.

One officer broke his elbow, and four others and many of the revelers suffered minor injuries, police said. Revelers threw rocks, bottles and exploding fireworks at police officers, Ochoa said.

“They just took over the whole (intersection). It was just out of control,” Ochoa said. “The Fourth of July typically gets kind of wild in the evening. . . . People come here, they ride their bicycles from party to party, and I’m not talking about an inside-the-house type party. I’m talking about take-over-the-street, wild-and-crazy type party.”

Neighbors said 500 to 1,000 people filled the streets, scurrying through alleys, dropping water balloons from balconies, setting off fireworks and tossing garbage cans back and forth.

During the chaos, resident Roger Ortega said, he saw a man try to put an American flag into the blaze, but several of his fellow revelers chased him down an alley and beat him up.

“It happens every Fourth of July. The kids just get kind of crazy,” said resident Susan Joy. “This is the third Fourth of July that I’ve actually been here, and this was the worst. It only happens once a year, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. I guess that’s living at the beach.”

To a six-year resident of the Huntington Beach neighborhood, Monday’s brawl “was just big fun.”

“A birthday party--our nation’s birthday party,” said the man who identified himself only as Mike. “Just reveling, riding bikes, having fun, drinking, celebrating. I think it’s a great thing. I love it every year.”

Police first broke up the gathering about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, but within an hour, the mob returned. Officers finally scattered the crowd about 12:30 a.m. Monday.

Forty men, most of them in their 20s, were arrested on charges of public drunkenness and failing to disperse. Most were released Monday. Larry Aaron Morales, 22, of Westminster, accused of assaulting a police officer, remained in custody Monday.