Miami Beach Police used SWAT teams to try to impose their emergency curfew against the uncontrolled spring waves – also triggering a shot of pepper balls, according to reports and videos.
Videos on social and local networks showed thousands of partygoers defying the COVID-19 pandemic and the Florida coastal city curfew after it started at 8 pm on Saturday.
Even as police SWAT teams moved forward to block the streets and used penetrating sound cannons to try to clear the crowded streets, the parties continued for hours, noted a Daily Beast reporter at the crime scene.
Videos shared on social media showed some position among the masses for throw away money – while another showed women twerking on top of cars long after the curfew was supposedly applied.
At least one woman climbed into a police vehicle to dance provocatively, noted the Miami Herald.
Police ended up throwing pepper balls at the crowd, said the Daily Beast – with savage videos showing a crazy stampede in the still-crowded crowd.
Several people were knocked to the ground – including a man who deftly held a bottle of Hennessy to protect it from breaking, the drain noted.
It was unclear if anyone was injured, and Miami Beach police have yet to announce whether there have been any arrests. The streets were not fully cleared until close to midnight – four full hours after the curfew began, the Miami Herald said.
Local authorities have imposed a curfew after mass fighting and an increase in crime among the mass of circuit breakers who are also challenging coronavirus security protocols, they said.
The Miami Beach Municipal Commission is due to hold an emergency meeting at 3 pm on Sunday to discuss the temporary curfew – which interim mayor Raul Águila, who declared a state of emergency.
“These crowds are in the thousands,” Águila told the newspaper. “We are fully booked.”
But the curfew will make no difference, several visitors told the Daily Beast – including Q Johnson, a 20-year-old student at Manhattan College in New York.
“It’s crazy here,” said Johnson. “It is lit. It’s chaotic … Too many motherfuckers out here, without a law. “
He insisted that he was not concerned about the pandemic, saying: “We are fine. We were young. “
Jeb Jones, 24, a senior at the University of Illinois, told the agency that the “low point” was just “waiting in line to get into McDonald’s”.
“The curfew will not stop me,” he promised. “We will continue to be angry. The bars are great. “