Miami Beach has ordered a nighttime curfew after chaotic situations due to tourist arrivals

The crowd of American tourists who flocked to the small town of Miami Beach, excited about the end of the pandemic, it’s so uncontrollable that the authorities of the city of Florida decided this Saturday to impose a curfew.

Over the next 72 hours, visitors must leave the streets and restaurants will have to close at 8 p.m. local in the main tourist areas of South Beach, the party’s epicenter in Miami Beach, authorities said.

In addition, the three bridges that connect the island to the mainland -Miami- will be closed to traffic from 10 p.m.. Only residents, workers and hotel guests will have access.

“It’s a matter of public safety”Said the acting city manager, Raul Aguila, when communicating the measurements.

With reference to the photographs which show the crowds gather on the seafront of Ocean DriveHe said it sounded like “a rock concert, you can’t see the sidewalk or the grass”.

The decision comes after weeks of intense evenings in Miami Beach, which is no stranger to the uncontrollable crowds of tourists: every year in March, this small island welcomes thousands of students from all over the country who come for Spring Break.

But this year “The volume is significantly higher than in previous years”, said the mayor, Dan Gelber. “I think it’s partly because there are few places open in the rest of the country, or they are very cold, or they are closed and they are also very cold,” he added.

Over the past two days, footage of fights in restaurants that caused serious damage, in addition to scaring away the guests without paying expensive bills, according to the local press.

Miami Beach Police Chief, Richard Clements, says he is concerned that the situation becomes unmanageable.

“On Thursday, hundreds of people ran at one point and threw tables and chairs as weapons,” he revealed. “We expected this to be a one-time event, but last night there were three such situations and a young woman was injured,” he added.

The island of just 92,000 inhabitants attracts 200,000 visitors and workers every dayGelber said last Monday.

Miami-Dade County, where Miami Beach is located, is worst affected in Florida by the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 5,700 deaths.

With information from AFP

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