This story has been updated with new information.

Cincinnati police arrested 39 people and towed more than five dozen cars after drivers zigzagged the city doing donuts, drag racing and blocking traffic.

Officers intercepted a group of about 100 drivers at several locations across the city the night of Saturday, March 14, into early Sunday morning, according to arrest documents.

The department said in a news release the drivers were taking part in a planned street takeover event. It's a growing national trend not unfamiliar to Cincinnati, in which drivers perform stunts and race while illegally blocking traffic.

More: Drivers are shutting down Cincinnati highways to do burnouts. Here's what to know

Police learned that night the group of drivers were traveling toward Cincinnati for the event on Interstate 75, the news release states. Several drivers who were arrested were from suburbs of Dayton and Columbus, arrest documents show. One woman who was arrested told police her friend had invited her to a "car show" in the city.

Officers first came across the group on I-75 near Paddock Road in Carthage around 10:30 p.m.

Two Cincinnati men were blocking traffic by holding a stop sign in the middle of the intersection near the highway off-ramp, police said. Officers said one of the men, 18-year-old Terry Clark, had a stolen gun on him. Several more drivers fled the area.

Police said the group then drove toward the border of East End and Linwood off Kellogg Avenue. The drivers attempted another takeover in the parking lot of Riverfront Live, the music venue where nine people were shot earlier this month, but were unsuccessful.

"Acting on timely intelligence, officers were deployed proactively to the area and successfully discouraged the activity," police said in the release.

Shortly after midnight, officers learned the group had moved toward the Clifton area and then assembled in the parking lot of Woodward High School in Bond Hill.

In the parking lot, police saw drivers were stunt driving, racing and doing donuts, arrest documents state.

Several officers, some from other agencies, descended on the school and began making arrests around 1 a.m.

Police deployed stop sticks in the parking lot, slashing the tires of an 18-year-old man's car as police say he tried to flee, according to arrest documents.

Officers had stopped a 20-year-old man earlier in the night in the West End and gave him a warning to leave the area, but that did not deter him, arrest documents show. Police say the man was street racing at the high school. He was arrested and his red Ford Mustang was towed.

Officers arrested both drivers and passengers who were "partaking" in the activity, arrest documents show.

In total, Cincinnati police arrested 39 people and towed 65 cars during the street takeover events, according to a news release.

Nearly all of the 39 people are charged with misdemeanor street racing, arrest documents show. Police have requested bonds of around $2,000 for most people in custody.

Street takeovers or "sideshows" like these have been happening for decades in other parts of the country.

San Francisco radio station KQED published a history of the trend which started in the mid-1980s in Oakland. The report says the takeovers started as quieter cruising events, but even then, the city government tried to crack down on them. As time went on, the events got rowdier.

Cincinnati police have taken action during street takeovers before, but mass arrests like this weekend are unheard of in recent years.

Last summer, officers impounded multiple cars during a street takeover Downtown. A handful of drivers were cited for not having license plates on their cars. No arrests were announced.

Enquirer reporter Cameron Knight contributed.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati police arrested dozens, towed cars to stop street takeovers