Miami Beach police used SWAT teams to try to force its emergency bell against jumpers who were out of control – and it also caused a wild rush by firing pepper balls, according to reports and videos.
Videos on social media and local media have shown that thousands of parties are facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the Florida beach beach curfew after it began at 8 p.m.
Even as police SWAT teams popped in to block the streets and use penetrating sound cannons to clear the crowded streets, the parties raged for hours, a Daily Beast reporter from the scene said.
On videos shared on social media, they showed that they stand among the masses throw money out – while another woman showed twerking on top of cars long after the evening clock was supposedly enforced.
At least one woman climbed on top of a police vehicle to dance defiantly, the Miami Herald noted.
Police finally fired pepper balls at the crowd, the Daily Beast said – with game videos showing a crazy rush in the still crowded crowd.
Several people were knocked to the ground, including one man who expertly held a Hennessy bottle to protect it from breakage.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured, and Miami Beach police have not yet announced whether there have been any arrests. The streets were only cleaned until midnight – a full four hours after the curfew began, the Miami Herald said.
Local officials applied the curfew rule after mass fighting and an increase in crime among the mass of springbreakers who are also defying the protocol against coronavirus safety.
The Miami Beach City Commission is expected to hold a meeting on Sunday at 3pm to discuss the temporary curfew – in which interim city manager Raul Aguila, who has declared a state of emergency, discussed.
“These crowds are in the thousands,” Aguila told the newspaper. “We are capable.”
But the evening clock will make no difference, several visitors told the Daily Beast – including Q Johnson, a 20-year-old student at Manhattan College in New York.
“It’s crazy out here,” Johnson said. ‘It’s lit. It’s chaotic … Too many mothers – they’re outlaw here. ”
He insisted he was not worried about the pandemic, saying: ‘We are fine. We are young. ”
Senior 24-year-old Jeb Jones, 24, of the University of Illinois, told the outlet that the “low point” was just “waiting in line to get to McDonald’s.”
“The evening clock is not going to stop me,” he promised. “We will continue to rage. The bars are wonderful. ”