Black leaders and activists are criticizing Miami Beach authorities and police about the city’s response to the large crowds of college students who converged on the area for spring break, accusing the authorities of aggressively separating large, mostly African, crowds. Americans.
Following what the authorities described as violent crowds, the Miami Beach authorities decreed a curfew at 8 pm on the weekend to contain the party and undisciplined visitors. Law enforcement officers from nearby law enforcement agencies helped enforce the curfew, leading to tense and sometimes physical confrontations.
“I believe the city’s reaction is unfair,” Daniella Pierre, the president of the NAACP chapter in Miami-Dade, told WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in Miami, “They only do that when it’s this type of event. , spring break and weekend on the urban beach, when you have any other activity in Miami Beach, you don’t get peppercorns. “
SPRING WOMAN BREAKER DRUGGED, STUPID AND FOUND DEAD AT MIAMI BEACH ID’D HOTEL
Crowds defiantly gather in the street as a speaker plays music an hour after the curfew in Miami Beach, Florida, on Sunday. The 8 pm curfew was extended in Miami Beach after the police worked to contain unruly crowds of tourists on spring break. (Daniel A. Varela / Miami Herald via AP)
According to Mayor Raul Águila, between February 3 and Sunday there were more than 1,000 arrests in the city and more than 80 firearms seized. Online videos show fights on the street and people on top of vehicles.
Two North Carolina men, on vacation in the coastal community, were accused of drugging and raping a woman. She was found dead at a South Beach hotel last week, officials said.
“In the past six weeks, Miami Beach police officers have arrested more than 1,000 and removed more than 100 guns from the streets,” Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements told Fox News. “Our number one goal has been and always will be public safety. My police officers police criminal behavior, not people.”
After the outbreak of riots and fights, Miami Beach commissioners voted to authorize the city administrator to extend the curfew in the South Beach entertainment district until at least April 12. In addition, tickets to the city will be closed this weekend, reported The Washington Post.
Ocean Drive – one of the main thoroughfares in Miami Beach’s South Beach neighborhood – will also be closed to all traffic, including pedestrians. Only residents and employees of nearby businesses will be allowed.
All sidewalk restaurants and cafes will close at 7pm. The authorities said they had no option to control the crowds that had become violent.
Miami Beach commissioner David Richardson told the Post that the accusations that black visitors are being treated unfairly are unfounded.
“We are not passing ordinances or laws based on demographics or skin color,” he said. “We are just observing the conduct of the people who visit the city. This has nothing to do with who is visiting – it has to do with the large number of people who visit.”
Commissioner Ricky Arriola said: “We cannot ignore the violence we are seeing.”
City leaders and officials have not responded to Fox News’s requests for comment on the matter.
People watch as Miami Beach city policemen arrest several men on Ocean Drive and 10th Street at the start of spring break on February 20, 2021 in Miami Beach, Florida (Pedro Portal / Miami Herald via AP)
Some black leaders agreed that concerns about illegal behavior are justified, but criticized the police’s response, citing other events in the city that also attract undisciplined crowds.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
“It’s like we haven’t learned anything since George Floyd’s death,” said Stephen Hunter Johnson, a Miami lawyer. “Drinking, fighting on the beach and driving a car is nothing new in Miami Beach, and it’s not new for spring break in general … But here we are again, having to worry about how our city is treating visitors black people. “