Footage of a violent skirmish between spring breakers in Miami Beach comes after city officials called for a curfew to curb the gun violence and general chaos that has gripped the city in recent days.
The 41-second video appears to show three separate fights taking place on 10th Street, a predominantly residential strip that intersects with busier streets like Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive on Saturday night.
A woman in a blue mini dress repeatedly punches a woman while another woman restrains her. A few feet away in another fight, a woman hits her arm and torso several times, while a third woman pulls her hair.
The hand-to-hand combat that allegedly took place on Friday night is just one example of the chaos that reigns in the beach town at this time of year.
Over the past four weeks, 100 weapons have been confiscated and five people were injured in two separate shootings over the weekend, despite the presence of 371 police officers.
On Monday, city officials announced a curfew for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, residents have been reporting rowdy visitors on social media, with one person declaring, “You should all pack up and go home.”
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A woman is pulled by her hair as she was repeatedly punched in a fight that allegedly took place on 10th Street in Miami Beach on Saturday night.
A few feet away, two women were seen fighting on the ground as the man behind the camera chanted, “Miami! Miami!
The ongoing violence has led Miami Beach leaders to declare a midnight to 6 a.m. curfew on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Most likely, it will be extended by city commissioners.
This spring break, thousands of students flocked to South Florida after a two-year delay due to Covid restrictions. Above, students at the Fort Lauderdale beach on Tuesday.
In the video of the fight, the camera cuts from one fight to the next, with the person behind the camera laughing and yelling, “Miami! Miami!
One woman’s breasts are exposed when she is punched and her hair is pulled.
The camera then cuts to another woman being violently dragged by her hair from sidewalk to sidewalk as people take turns punching her.
Since then, Miami Beach officials have imposed a curfew for the coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday to prevent similar violence in the island city of about 90,000.
The curfew will apply in the area between 23rd Street and South Point Drive, according to the Miami Herald. The cars will not be turned away, instead the police will focus on ordering the crowd back to their hotels or leave.
“In the past two nights, five innocent people have been shot dead on our streets,” Mayor Dan Gelber said Monday afternoon.
Regarding the spring break crowd, he stressed, “We don’t ask for it, we don’t promote it, we don’t encourage it. We just tolerate it.
City manager Alina Hudak declares a state of emergency, allowing her to impose a 72-hour curfew unless city commissioners vote to extend it.
A review of the commissioners’ social media pages shows that most of them seem to agree with the new restrictions.
Over the weekend, five people were injured in two shootings. Police are investigating a shooting that left two women with gunshot wounds.
Pictured, a crowd gathers after a spring break shooting on Miami Beach, an incident that prompted city officials to impose a curfew in the form of a state of emergency.
“Public safety is the number one job for local authorities. I fully support our City Manager’s announcement of an emergency order including a midnight curfew effective Thursday,” Commissioner Mark Samuelian wrote on Monday. “I will continue to support our police department to ensure they have all the resources they need to keep our residents and visitors safe.”
Commissioner Steven Miner wrote: “I support these measures to end the violence and I also support the imposition of a midnight curfew for next weekend.”
On Twitter, frustrated Miami residents are asking the party-goers to come home.
“Spring Break and Memorial Day are two of the worst times for Miami Beach. People from other states flock there and problems begin, ”said user @SonnySaneus.
Frustrated residents took to Twitter to talk about the crowds of tourists sometimes getting violent, leading to curfews for the second year in a row.
“I thought spring break was only a week long,” user @Rauuuul__ said. You have all been in Miami since the beginning of March.
One man returned to a bygone era of partying with less violence.
“They just declared a state of emergency in Miami because of all the spring break shootings… that’s sad. I’m glad I got to experience spring break if that shit was still SMART!”
The Miami Beach Police Fraternal Order tweeted that four officers were injured during the festivities, while the police union called its officers “exhausted” and added that “the party must end.”
“We can’t take this anymore. We just can’t,” Gelber said.
“This is not your father’s or your mother’s spring break. This is something completely different.
Gelber noted that five people were shot dead over the weekend, despite the fact that 371 police officers arrived at the scene.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (left) and Miami Beach City Manager Alina Hudak (right) will enforce a midnight curfew starting Thursday during a bustling spring break.
The Tampa Bay Times estimates that about 570,000 students will be coming to Florida for spring break this year. Upstairs people on the beach on Sunday
Spring break usually falls in the last two weeks of March, when most schools and colleges have a week off. Above, Colorado School of Mines (center) students Carter Noere, 22, Weston Hunt, 22, and Jack Damenti, 22, watch Anderson Salisbury, 22, sculpt a large dolphin out of sand on a Fort Lauderdale beach on Tuesday.
About 35 miles north on the A1A in Fort Lauderdale, bars and clubs will remain open until 4am.
On Monday, the Spring Breakers were seen lounging on the beaches, posing for selfies and splashing in the waves. Crowds of people dressed for the weather in tiny bikinis and colorful swimming trunks weren’t intimidated by the conspicuous presence of policemen on horseback trying to contain the celebration.
About 570,000 students are expected to move to Florida, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Spring break usually falls in the last two weeks of March, when most schools and colleges have a week off.
The celebrations began in earnest last week, including wet-shirt contests, twerking and public kissing, but they didn’t go without incident.
Police said three people were injured on a South Beach street filled with Spring Breakers early Sunday morning.
Two victims were taken to the hospital at the scene, and doctors at another hospital reported that a third person had arrived with a gunshot wound.
Everyone was expected to survive.
In the early hours of Monday morning, police officers were patrolling a block away from the site of the shooting on Sunday morning when gunshots were heard, police said.
The police found two women with gunshot wounds. Police said their wounds were not life-threatening.