After the record of at least two shootings during the spring break period, the authorities of Miami Beach, Florida, declared, this Monday (21), a state of emergency in the city and the beginning of a period of night curfew.
“We don’t ask for spring break, we don’t promote it, we don’t encourage it. We just support it — and frankly, it’s not something we want to support anymore,” said Mayor Dan Gebler.
During the spring break, traditionally held between February and March, in the spring of the Northern Hemisphere, American universities give students a week’s vacation. Students, then, often travel in large groups to coastal destinations and throw big parties.
According to Gebler, Miami Beach has been taken over in recent days by “tens of thousands of people”, who have created a “crowd of young partygoers”. On Sunday (20) and on Monday, according to The New York Times, gunshots were reported in the city, leaving at least five people injured.
“[Foram] cowardly acts, of random people who come here and behave this way,” said Alina Hudak, the city’s administrator – a position parallel to that of mayor, appointed by a commission elected by the population.
The curfew will go into effect this Thursday (24), between 12:01 am and 6 am, only for a specific area in the South Beach region, where several bars and restaurants are concentrated. The restriction ends after the weekend, next Monday (28), but the authorities are already considering extending it.
The measure adds to others previously announced, such as the ban on the sale of alcohol after 2 am in the southern part of the city and reinforcements in the security forces.
Since mid-February, when the spring break began, nine police officers have been injured in several incidents, said police chief Richard Clements, who added that 100 weapons were confiscated in the same period.
Last year, already during the pandemic, the Miami Beach police arrested more than a thousand people during these parties. At the time, the city also adopted a state of emergency and a curfew.
Despite its small size (it has only 90,000 inhabitants, while neighboring Miami has more than 450,000), the place has become one of the most traditional spring break destinations, drawing crowds much larger than authorities consider reasonable — and than can keep under control.
“We haven’t been able to figure out how to stop the spring break from happening,” the mayor said. “We don’t want it, but it keeps happening.”
