A 600-person melee broke out in a Florida movie theater's parking lot, with only five of the participants ended up getting arrested.

Police said the massive brawl occurred at around 8:30 PM on Christmas day outside the Hollywood River City 14 movie theater in Jacksonville. They said that the incident was triggered after some teenagers tried to get inside the theater without purchasing tickets. The group tried to hit an off-duty police officer working as a security guard. The security personnel then tried to administer "pepper spray to disperse the group, locked the doors and called for backup, following protocol," said Lauri-Ellen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

"Upward of 600 people moving throughout a parking lot about the size of a football field began fighting, disrupting and jumping on cars," the officer added.

In a statement, the authorities said that members of the crowd are mostly unsupervised juveniles and young adults who were not patrons of the theater.

Caught up in the brawl were businesses and parents who were trying to reach their kids to assure their safety.

"Everywhere I drove to try and pick up my daughter and stuff like this, they were talking about 'If you don't move they going to take you to jail,' and then my daughter walked over to Red Lobster and they told her if she moves again that they were going to take her to jail," said Danny McMillin who have two daughters in the scene.

Meanwhile, some residents have revealed that this is not the first time that a riot involving hundreds of people has occurred in the county. In an online poll conducted shortly after the melee, 94% of respondents believe the Christmas Day theatre brawl is part of a bigger problem in Jacksonville. Respondents blame the unfortunate incident to lack of parental supervision and racial unrest.