Miami-Dade Mayor Ends Curfew Last Night, After 10 Days of Restrictions

After more than a week of mostly incident-free protests in Miami-Dade county, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez cancelled the countywide curfews effective as of last night.

The decision follows a week of confusing and shifting timelines, where the mayor changed the curfew several times with only a few hours notice. After softening guidelines last week where he moved the curfew from 9 p.m. to midnight, last Friday he changed it again to 10 p.m. with under two hours notice, citing “increasing unrest” for the reason behind the time change. On Saturday evening, he change the curfew to 9 p.m., with just a few hours for people and businesses to adjust their plans.

Restaurant owners took to social media to voice their frustration with the curfew. Michael Beltran, owner of Ariete, Nave, Chug’s Diner, and Taurus, vented on social media saying, “Another example of @MayorGimenez and his over reach, on a quiet night here in the grove we were shut down once again,” in response to change in curfew times on Friday evening.

Daniel Serfer, owner of Blue Collar, Mignonette, and Vinaigrette, called the curfew “not cool,” and publicly threw his support behind Gimenez’s political opponent Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Gimenez is currently facing terms limits that will end his time as mayor, and is running for Congress in Florida’s 26 district this fall.

Restaurant worker Ana Anitaosito responded to Gimenez’s announcement on Saturday saying she just returned to her job a week ago and can only work the night shift and it was “unfair for people like me” who “deserve a normal life.”

The curfew was first set in place on May 30 after protests became violent in Downtown Miami when a small group looted stores and set a police car on fire. Since then, the daily protests in Miami have proceeded without a major incident.

These curfews were enacted just days after restaurants were allowed to reopen again for in-room dining service, after being closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic for nearly two months.

• Miami Restaurants Given Last Minute Curfew During First Weekend Reopening [EMIA]