Miami Beach police officers attend an emergency on Ocean Drive during spring break festivities, amid COVID-19 outbreak.  (Photo: Reuters)

Miami Beach, March 15 (RHC)-- Massive crowds of college students and other vacationers on spring break have flocked to Miami, resulting in dozens of arrests, police being injured and fears rising over visitors ignoring COVID-19 social-distancing guidelines.  

Photos and videos posted on social media show Miami's beaches jammed with people, none of whom appears to be wearing a mask.  The footage also shows rowdy and dangerous behavior, such as a group of young men brawling in a parking garage on Friday night.  Another clip shows scantily clad women dancing in the street and climbing on a police car.

A larger disturbance occurred at 8th Street and Ocean Drive, where a person or persons walked into a crowd and started throwing fake money into the air, causing a mob scene with people struggling to get what they thought were real bills, police said.  Police apprehended a 19-year-old man who was throwing money and said that when he resisted arrest and tried to incite a riot, they body-slammed him to the ground and used pepper spray to break up the crowd surrounding them. 

Two officers suffered minor injuries when people in the crowd threw objects at them.  Some 100 people have been arrested over the weekend, including for drug and weapons offences, city of Miami Beach spokeswoman Veronica Payssé said, speaking to CNN.  Police also have issued more than 900 citations and seized 13 guns since Monday.