Miami Beach extended curfew and emergency measures to three weeks to avoid crowds

The municipal council of Miami Beach in the United States on Sunday decided to extend the curfew from 8 p.m. and granted emergency clearance for a period of up to three weeks, to help control the population who travel without permits or masks to attend Spring Break events.

Thousands of people gathered in the city’s Art Deco cultural district, which has caused chaos and mayhem in recent days, when college students often celebrate the onset of the Boreal Spring.

The mayor Dan Gelber told an emergency city council meeting that all manner of visitors from out of town and from Florida – not just students – have taken to the streets since the governor Ron DeSantis declared in late February that the state was a “Oasis of freedom“Faced with coronavirus restrictions.

“It sounded like a rock concert. All you could see were people wall to wall. “said the city administrator, Raúl Aguila, to the municipal commission.

Aguila said an increase in crowds was noticed on Friday evening and applied to emergency authorities on Saturday to establish a curfews, closure of streets and highways in the region.

On Sunday, the city council agreed to grant Águila the power to extend curfews and street closures for up to three periods over seven days, if necessary, from Tuesday.

Gelber said crowds gathered as the surrounding county suffered 1,000 new COVID-19 infections and a range of between 50 and 100 people hospitalized per day.

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,” 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 Reuters and AFP)

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