Officials from the city of Miami Beach declared a state of emergency on Monday and an upcoming curfew, in order to curb violent incidents over spring break that resulted in five injuries in two separate shootings.
The mayor of Miami Beach, Dan Gelber, and the city administrator, Alina Hudak, announced the emergency order at an evening press conference. It includes a curfew for the South Beach area that starts early on Thursday after midnight and runs through the weekend.
The city commission will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the statement, and Hudak said he plans to recommend that the curfew be extended until next weekend.
Thousands of college students and other youth gather annually in Miami Beach for spring break, and this is the second year in a row that South Florida city officials have declared a state of emergency at this famous party venue.
The mayor said that about 100 guns were seized in the last four weeks and that several policemen were injured while controlling the crowd.
“We can't take this anymore. We just can't,” Gelber said. “This isn't your mother's or father's spring break. This is something completely different.”
Gelber reported that five people were shot during the weekend despite 371 police deployed.
Three people were injured early Sunday on a street full of spring vacationers in the city's South Beach neighborhood, police said. Two injured victims at the scene were taken to a hospital, while doctors from another hospital reported that a third person arrived there with a gunshot wound. Everyone is expected to survive.
Early Monday, officers were patrolling one block from the site of Sunday morning's shooting when they heard gunshots, police said. Officers found two women with gunshot wounds. Police said his injuries weren't life-threatening.
At the urging of some residents, city officials have been working in recent years to crack down on violent behavior in South Beach. But efforts to curb heavy drinking and violence have generated complaints about racism, classism and commercial practices.
More than 1,000 people were arrested last March, when the city imposed an 8 p.m. curfew schedule. Authorities at the time sent military-style vehicles to disperse the predominantly black crowds with rubber bullets, prompting criticism from black activists.
(With information from AP)
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