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Miami imposes curfew after footage shows Spring Breakers running riot

The curfew will be in effect from midnight to 6 am and will target South Beach hotspots, extending from 23rd Street to South Pointe Drive

In the wake of two separate shootings and four officers injured over the weekend, Miami Beach officials have declared a state of emergency and imposed a midnight curfew. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and City Manager Alina Hudak announced the emergency order on Monday, March 21. The curfew will be in effect from midnight to 6 am and will target South Beach hotspots, extending from 23rd Street to South Pointe Drive, from the bay to restaurant-lined Ocean Drive.

The Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police tweeted, "This weekend, we’ve had 4 @MiamiBeachPD officers injured. This video is a snippet of the crowds and dangers we face. Officers are EXHAUSTED. The party needs to end. City officials must take immediate and firm action to ensure the safety of officers and residents. #SpringBreak."

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"We don't ask for Spring Break, we don't promote it, we don't encourage it. We just endure it," Mayor Gelber said during an afternoon press conference where he announced the curfew. Thousands of college students and youngsters descend annually on Miami Beach for Spring Break, and this is the second year in a row that officials for the South Florida city have declared a state of emergency. The city commission will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the declaration, and Hudak said she plans to recommend the curfew be extended through the next weekend, as per Daily Mail.

During the conference, the 61-year-old mayor revealed that about 100 guns were seized over the past four weeks, and several police officers were injured while controlling the crowds. "We can't endure this anymore. We just simply can't. This isn't your father's or your mother's Spring Break. This is something wholly different." Gelber also said that five people were shot over the weekend despite 371 police officers being deployed.

"And every year we put more police, we bring more assets to create as safe of an environment as we can have. At the end of the day, when tens of thousands of people are crowding into what is essentially a small area on South Beach, really just South Beach. It is what it is and we have to respond," the mayor added.

Every year, Spring Breakers are seen lounging on beaches, tanning on the beach, posing for pictures, and enjoying the waves with their friends. As per reports, spring break usually peaks during the final two weeks of March, when the majority of schools and colleges are on break for a week. Three people were wounded on Sunday on a South Beach street with crowds of Spring Breakers. Two victims were wounded and taken to a hospital, while a third person was reported to have been injured due to a gunshot wound. 

"At the urging of some residents, city officials have been working in recent years to crack down on unruly behavior in South Beach. But efforts to curb the excessive drinking and violence have raised complaints about racism, classism, and business practices," reports Tampa Bay Times.

One user wrote, "If you live in Miami and willingly go to Miami Beach during spring break you don’t love yourself," while another said, "Gun violence is such an abysmal normalcy here in the United States that the series of Spring Break shootings that occurred over the weekend in Miami were hardly covered. 20 years ago, this would be the biggest headline. For my generation, a mass shooting is a normalcy." A third wrote, "No shade, but everyone that went to Miami for spring break. Please get tested before you go around others / loved ones back home."