City leaders in Miami are calling for an end to Ultra Music Festival, following 76 arrests, 28 felonies, 118 rescues, and the trampling of a security guard by an aggressive crowd during the 3-day event.
The second night of Ultra was marked by extreme stress for security staff trying to prevent people hopping fences from illegally entering the festival. In one area of the perimeter, police deemed the fences inadequate security measures the morning of the second day, but nothing was done despite these early warning signs. Later that day a female security guard was crushed by that fence falling backwards, and then trampled by a mob of people. She sustained a broken leg and severe head trauma, and is thought very lucky to be alive.
When asked his opinion on these happenings at Ultra this year, Mayor Regalado said, “It was so predictable. Let’s get through this weekend…then let this never happen again.” Regalado promised to work with city officials to prevent this kind of tragedy and chaos from affecting the City of Miami in the future.
This is not the first time tragedy has struck at what we would hope would be a peaceful and respectful gathering of music lovers. Concerns over pushy crowds also became a problem at SXSW, earlier in March.
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