Miami Beach imposes curfew
Over uncontrollable crowds
MIAMI (AFP) – Throngs of revelers flocking to Miami Beach in Florida for spring break have become so uncontrollable that authorities declared a state of emergency on Saturday and imposed a curfew meant to quash the party.
The move marks the second year in a row that fun has been curtailed at the popular spring break destination – last March because the pandemic was just ramping up and this year due to unruly and destructive crowds.
Authorities announced Saturday that visitors must be off the street and that restaurants would close their doors at 8 p.m. in South Beach, the epicenter of the city’s nightlife, following an increase of violence and vandalism over recent days.
In addition to the curfew, the three bridges that connect the Miami Beach island to mainland Miami will now be closed to traffic from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Only residents, workers and hotel guests will have access.
An aerial photo released by police Saturday night showed the city’s main strip, Ocean Drive, empty just two hours after the curfew went into effect.
Miami Beach is no stranger to uncontrollable spring break crowds, but this year, with approximately 13 percent of US residents vaccinated, the atmosphere is particularly festive and the illusion that the pandemic is now under control is pervasive.
”Just go get your vaccine y’all so that you could come out here and have a good time like us because we vaccinated, baby,” Jalen Rob, another student from Texas, told AFP.
Another man, with his face painted like the Joker, stood on top of a car yelling “COVID’s over, baby!” while waving an American flag, in a video posted to Twitter by filmmaker Billy Corben.
Acting City Manager Raul Aguila said the city’s curfew moves were “all about the public safety.”
He described huge crowds that had gathered on Ocean Drive as looking “like a rock concert. You couldn’t see pavement and you couldn’t see grass.”