Miami Beach officials declared a state of emergency on Monday and a planned curfew, trying to curb violent incidents at spring break that saw five people wounded in two shootings, the Associated Press reports. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and City Manager Alina Hudak announced the emergency order, which includes a curfew for the South Beach area that starts early Thursday after midnight and runs through the weekend. Thousands of college students and other young people gather annually in Miami Beach for spring break. This is the second year in a row that the South Florida city has declared a state of emergency in this famed partying spot. The mayor said about 100 guns have been seized over the past four weeks, and several police officers have been injured while controlling the crowds.
Gelber noted that there were five people shot over the weekend despite 371 police officers deployed. Three people were wounded early Sunday on a street crowded with spring breakers in the city’s South Beach neighborhood. Two victims wounded at the scene were taken to a hospital, while doctors at another hospital reported a third person arrived there with a gunshot wound. All were expected to survive. More than 1,000 people were arrested last March, when the city imposed an 8 p.m. curfew. Authorities sent military style vehicles to disperse predominantly Black crowds with rubber bullets, prompting criticism from Black activists.
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