Parties, misbehavior, pepper spray and injuries. Must be spring break in Miami Beach.
Some 150 people were arrested this past weekend and two police officers were injured during clashes with the revelers, according to Miami’s Local 10 News.
“It is really a difficult situation,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said. “A lot of people are coming here and they are coming here with the wrong intentions,” he said, according to another report from Local 10 News.
Miami remains with a midnight curfew during the pandemic.
The Miami Beach Police Department tweeted Friday night that two officers were injured and had to be taken to a hospital. The injured officers were trying to make an arrest, according to the police report.
“The crowd ended up turning on those officers who were there,” Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said, according to the report.
Those Friday revelers caused police in some areas to deploy pepper balls to disperse the crowds.
On Saturday, 30 more people were arrested.
Gelber had a warning for anyone who may have the wrong idea about his city.
“If you are coming here because you think anything goes, you’re going to have a terrible time. We are going to arrest you,” he said.
Florida’s crowded beaches and bars have officials concerned about another potential spike in coronavirus cases.
It’s become a race between vaccines and mutating variants, which are more dangerous, even as restrictions such as mask mandates are lessened.
Health officials have discovered more infectious COVID-19 variants in 753 people statewide as of Friday, Palm Beach County health director Dr. Alina Alonso said Saturday, nearly double the 379 as of Feb. 14.
Despite the risk of the virus and contagious variants, travel numbers have seen a spring break bump around the U.S.
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