Police
and volunteers prepare to head out to Walking Street to make sure all
entertainment venues adhere to the new agreement.
Boonlua Chatree
Pattaya’s party people have another hour to revel after
city officials and provincial police agreed to extend the allowed closing
time of Walking Street bars to 3 a.m.
The move, which permits pubs and discos in other areas to
remain open until 2 a.m., comes after yet another crackdown by Bangkok-based
police and a subsequent protest meeting from bar owners who insist Pattaya,
as a tourist town, should be exempted from national laws requiring
entertainment businesses to close by 1 a.m.
In fact, Walking Street go-go bars long have stayed open
until 4 a.m. (and some discos until after dawn). But their late night
operations were always subject to the whims of police, who turned a blind
eye when convenient and staged impromptu crackdowns when it wasn’t. Such
erratic enforcement infuriated operators who demanded more legal
transparency and consistency in applying the law.
The new informal agreement between Pattaya City Hall and
Region 2 police will alleviate that, at least until Interior Ministry
officials in Bangkok object to the extra-judicial arrangement. But Chonburi
Provincial Police deputy commander Theerapol Jindaluang quickly made it
known that with the legal concession came stricter enforcement of the new
closing times.
To prove his point, Theerapol led police through Walking
Street at 3 a.m. sharp Nov. 26 closing all bars and discos. More than 100
uniformed and plain-clothed officers made sure all bar owners knew anyone
who didn’t hold up their end of the bargain would be arrested and fined.
The officers also reminded operators of existing laws that prohibit
minors, illegal drugs and weapons inside entertainment venues.
