Miami Beach declares state of emergency, curfew till 8pm

Miami Beach officials have declared a state of emergency due to overwhelming spring break crowds, imposing an 8 p.m. curfew this weekend for its entertainment district and temporarily closing several roads leading into the city.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber announced the new measures, saying the city feels at times out of control.

The first night of the curfew saw large crowds lingering on Ocean Drive, according to footage captured by local reporters. As squad cars attempted to clear the road, some people danced and twerked on cars. One man tossed money into the crowd.

Police shot pepper balls at the revelers, briefly prompting a stampede, the Miami Herald reported. About an hour and a half after the curfew went into effect, the Miami Beach Police Department shared photographs showing an empty Ocean Drive.

The emergency order noted that Miami Beach has seen “an increasingly large number of visitors during the Spring Break period” in recent years. The city has long made efforts to crack down: In 2019, police in protective armor patrolled the beach as prison transport vehicles stood ready to carry away non-compliant visit

A large crowd descended on a Miami Beach street during spring break festivities on March 20, before police stepped in to enforce an 8 p.m. curfew.

The coronavirus pandemic has added another layer to spring break concerns. Last year, Gelber expressed dismay at “the number of young people that could care less that this thing was going on.”

Spring break visitors “continue to gather and socialize in extremely close proximity to one another without any facial coverings or regard for appropriate social distancing,” the declaration of the state of emergency says.

“This was not an easy decision to make,” interim City Manager Raul Aguila told reporters at the briefing. “We are doing that to protect the public health and safety.”

Friday night along Ocean Drive, in particular, was “quite simply overwhelming,” he said.

“It looked like a rock concert,” Aguila said. “You couldn’t see pavement and you couldn’t see grass.”

“We’ve done everything we can to try and mitigate the behavior that we are seeing, but quite frankly, I am concerned that the behavior is getting to be a little bit more for us to be able to handle,” Miami Beach Police Chief Rick Clements said during the briefing.

The emergency order is set to expire Tuesday unless city commissioners, who meet Sunday, vote to extend them. Interim city manager Raul Aguila told the Miami Herald that he recommends preserving the order until April 12, when spring break wraps up for the year.