Miami Beach mayor: "We don't want spring break in our city"

Dan Gelber, mayor of Miami Beach, delivered a strong message against spring break this past Sunday. The city took emergency measures to control the gatherings in this Florida city after a weekend that ended with the death of two people.

The police department spread out in the neighborhoods where the celebrations took place. Despite this, there were two shootings on Friday and Saturday night. Police interventions resulted in several arrests. "A large number of people took over the street with clearly criminal behavior," Alex Fernandez, vice mayor of Miami Beach, told MegaTv. "Shootings and death. We cannot allow this," he added.

The streets are out of control

According to Mayor Gelber, the culprits of the shootings are tourists who came to the city for spring break, not Miami Beach residents. According to the local authorities, more than 70 firearms were seized in the last three weeks.

In response to these events, the city decided to establish a curfew that applies to people and businesses in the tourist areas of the city. In addition, Mayor Gelber announced that the city does not want any more spring breaks to be held there.

"We don't ask for spring break in our city," Mayor Gelber said in a video released Sunday. "We don't want spring break in our city. It's too rowdy, it brings too much disorder and it's simply too difficult to police," he stated.

According to information from travel agencies, there has been a large increase in tourism this year in Florida for these dates. This upturn could be linked to the latest warnings from states such as Texas, which warned against traveling to Mexico for spring break, following the shootings that killed a group of U.S. tourists.