The mayor of Miami Beach said hundreds of people were arrested and at least two police officers were injured this weekend, as thousands of spring breakers migrated to the popular South Florida destination – ignoring the COVID-19 security protocols.
On Friday, the Miami Beach Police Department tweeted that police officers were forced to use pepper balls to disperse a disorderly “very large” crowd while taking a guy into custody. Two police officers were taken to the hospital for minor injuries after the incident and released on Saturday morning.
“What happened was a large crowd gathered at some point when there were people who went ahead and walked towards the crowd who started throwing money up, causing a crowd to gather,” said the Miami police chief. Beach, Rick Clements, to CBS Miami.
On Saturday night, another 30 people were arrested in South Beach, policeman said.
“We have a lot of people coming, we have a lot of people acting and we have COVID at the same time, so it’s a triple threat,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told CBS Miami. “If you are coming here to disturb, then it is not worth the money for us. It is not worth the prescription. You cannot pay our community to endure the kind of inappropriate and inappropriate conduct that we have seen.”
“If you’re coming here because you think anything goes, it’s going to be a terrible time. We’re going to arrest you. We’ve made hundreds and hundreds of arrests,” said Gelber.
On March 10, the city of Miami Beach extended its declaration of state of emergency and emergency measures until March 17, which includes a midnight curfew. Florida does not have a statewide masking mandate and has lifted restrictions on restaurants and other businesses.
“I think what we see happening now is that there are not many other destinations open, or they are cold, and plane tickets are very, very cheap … so we are getting a lot of people coming here,” Gelber told CBSN last week, adding that the city is doing everything it can to promote security protocols, although Governor Ron DeSantis says he could not fine people for not wearing masks. “It doesn’t seem that many of them seem to know that there is a pandemic.”
Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The popular spring break destination intensified its police presence, banned open alcohol containers and set capacity limits on its beaches in an attempt to mitigate the crowds seen during last year’s vacation.
Gelber said he was not sure whether the city was “particularly successful” in enforcing security measures.
“There is no doubt that irresponsible activity generates hospitalizations and death,” he added, criticizing the governor’s mask policies.
Some colleges and universities have cut their days off or canceled spring break altogether, as authorities try to curb parties that could lead to an increase in COVID-19 infections. Florida faced similar issues during spring break last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, which led to large spikes in cases.