Spring Breakers Overrun Miami, City Declares State of Emergency

This is the sort of thing that you expect from a Judd Apatow movie, or from some comic book plot devised by Jonah Hill and Seth Rogan.  But, in the waning days of an international pandemic that will define generations of us, perhaps nothing should be considered too strange?

Miami, Florida is one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of the world, and Americans have been flocking there for weeks on account of the timing of Spring Break, and the overall feeling that the coronavirus pandemic was likely on its way to the grave, thanks to the number of vaccines that have been making the rounds.

This has led many of us to celebrate, returning to bars and vacation spots with a vengeance, bolstered by the prospect of immunity in the round.

In Miami, the certainty was a bit too much for the locals, however, and the situation turned ugly.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber declared a state of emergency and set a curfew Saturday, saying the crowds that have descended on the city recently are “more than we can handle.”

“Too many are coming, really, without the intention of following the rules, and the result has been a level of chaos and disorder that is just something more than we can endure,” Gelber told CNN’s Ana Cabrera.

Police in Miami Beach said early Sunday that they arrested “at least a dozen” people following the start of the curfew.

“Officers began dispersing crowds at 8 p.m. and ultimately achieved a satisfactory level of compliance,” police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez told CNN.

The 8 p.m. curfew and road closures in the city’s entertainment district will be in effect for the next 72 hours, Gelber said at a news conference Saturday.

The causeways to Miami Beach from the mainland will be closed to non-local traffic starting at 9 p.m. for the next few nights, Gelber said.

At night, “it feels like a rock concert, wall-to-wall people over blocks and blocks,” Gelber told Cabrera.

On Friday, revelers took things a bit too far, with an individual firing a weapon into the air, kicking off what police called “a riot”.