Mobile clubbing in Tel Aviv

January 8, 2010 - 10:12 AM by

clubshank1Tel Aviv’s fun-loving clubbers won’t be denied. Following the police closure on New Year’s Eve of some of the city’s prominent night spots due to alleged overcrowding, the dance-deprieved residents are taking their moves to the streets in protest.

The plan? To take portable music players and their headphones and silently dance all night at Gan Meir park in the middle of the city – in an act of mobile clubbing.

May, one of the event’s organizers, told The Jerusalem Post that the clubbing community feels that the city and the law enforcement agencies are trying to delegitimize them.

This is our way of protesting in a quiet and fun way, so that nobody can claim we are disrupting the peace.

For several years now the city has been corralling all the nightclubs into special enclosures – city zones that are dedicated to nightlife – and many people feel that it’s ruining the character of the city that is well known for its open and festive atmosphere. We feel that what the police did last week was going too far. We understand the need for safety, but we feel that they are picking on the wrong people. Instead of going after places because they are overcrowded, the police should be going after the places where there are fights or where alcohol is being sold to minors.”

On New Year’s Eve the police closed down 10 clubs, which they said were dangerously overcrowded. Shortly after midnight, the officers turned off the music, sent the partygoers away and issued 30-day closure orders to the clubs’ owners.

Tel Aviv’s finest said that on New Year’s Eve, officers inspected 148 nightclubs, of which 10 were closed down, some because of overcrowding, some because of fighting and some because they were selling alcohol to minors.

According to the police, some of the clubs were found to have more than two-and-a-half times the permitted amount of people. A spokesman told The Post:

“We have no desire to ruin the city’s night life, but those kinds of levels present a real danger. Never mind a bomb, in such close quarters even a fight or fireworks going off can lead to disaster.”

Whatever the result of the conflict, Gan Meir is going to be the place to be tonight – after shul, of course.

Tags: , , , , • Category: A New Reality, coexistence, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Pop Culture 

Comments

One Comment on Mobile clubbing in Tel Aviv

  1. miriam sofer on Fri, Jan 15th 2010 11:41 PM

    2. wish icould be there.

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