After fatal stabbing, Paide to limit bar, club closing times to 4 a.m.
Paide's municipal government supports the police’s proposal to introduce a city-wide 4 a.m. limit on the closing times for its entertainment-related establishments, including bars and clubs.
Most representatives of the city’s entertainment establishments, who had discussed the subject at a consultation with the city government last week, agreed with the proposal, reported Central Estonian newspaper Järva Teataja (link in Estonian).
Paide Police District Chief Margus Toomsalu stated that the proposal getting the approval of business owners was encouraging, and that most agreed that 4 a.m. was a reasonable closing time.
According to Toomsalu, it became clear when communicating with representatives of these businesses that after 4 a.m., most clients were in an altered enough state that arguments and fights were more likely to break out.
The proposal for limiting the hours of Paide’s entertainment establishments came in response to a deadly attack in a Paide bar during the early morning hours of March 20th.
At 4:29 a.m. that Sunday, police received a call that a 28-year-old and a 31-year-old man had both been stabbed with a sharp object in Bucket, a bar on Tallinn Street. Both men were transported by ambulance to the hospital, where the younger of the two victims later died. Police arrested a 20-year-old man with a prior record suspected of attacking the two men in the Paide bar, and opened a criminal investigation into the incident.
When the police district chief, Paide Mayor Siret Pihelgas, and Bucket owner Annikky Sal-al-Saller met to discuss the deadly incident two weeks ago, the three discussed both the idea to limit how late entertainment establishments could stay open as well as other possible safety measures, including the installation of security cameras and additional lighting in the establishments.
Police Chief Toomsalu also stressed the importance of promoting closer cooperation with the police, noting that the conflict that led to the stabbings had allegedly already begun the previous night, and that earlier intervention could have perhaps prevented a deadly outcome.
Editor: Editor: Aili Sarapik