66 arrested at holiday celebration in Miami

MIAMI BEACH - Miami Beach police arrested 66 people in the first three days of a combination Memorial Day celebration and hip-hop festival in glitzy South Beach but said on Sunday the celebration was much more peaceful than last year’s troubled holiday. Riot police were called out early on Sunday for the first time since the festival began on Thursday night to break up a fight outside Miami Beach police headquarters. The disturbance was quickly put down and no one was hurt, police said. Miami Beach police have been on high alert for trouble this weekend after a series of streets brawls resulted in more than 200 arrests during the Memorial Day weekend last year, when residents of the tourist mecca South Beach said drunken hoodlums made them afraid to walk in the streets. More than 400 police officers were assigned to patrols in South Beach, a small entertainment district filled with upscale restaurants, Art Deco hotels and nightclubs hosting hip-hop parties attended by music moguls P. Diddy and Luther Campbell, former basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other celebrities. Police officials, concerned enough that they canceled vacations and leave for all officers this weekend, said crowds were much less rowdy this year, with just 66 arrests compared with 106 in the first two days of the holiday last year. Riot police used “pepper balls,” a crowd-control device similar to pepper spray, to quell the disturbance outside the police station, which they feared might spread to nearby crowds ined up to get into nightclubs. “Completely different experience this year,” Miami Beach police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said. “Last year we were playing catch-up all weekend. This time it’s pretty much under control.” Hernandez said most of this year’s arrests were for “quality-of-life” issues such as drinking in public and making too much noise. (Reuters)