Judge bans nightclubs in Buenos Aires, calling for safety plan

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  • "All dancing to recorded or live music [is] banned until the order [is] carried out."
  • Judge bans nightclubs in Buenos Aires, calling for safety plan image
  • Update: According to infobae, the ban has been lifted by a different judge. A judge in Buenos Aires has ordered all nightclubs and venues closed until a safety plan is established. The news comes in the wake of the tragic events at Time Warp Argentina, where six people died. An investigation is still ongoing, but authorities suspect drug overdoses to be the culprit, while attendees had complained about overcrowding and overheating at the festival. In the days following, organizers were arrested while the Argentinian government declared a ban on all large-scale dance music festivals in the capital. A judge has taken that ban one step further, extending it to the capital's nightclubs, ordering them shut and prohibiting dancing to both recorded and live music. According to the BBC, the judge called for the city government to draft up a plan to enforce laws around drug use, as well as creating a timetable of venue inspections. The judge described the city's clubbing scene as "a landscape of impunity and lack of state control with respect to nocturnal activities." The Chamber of Dance Venues in Buenos Aires, a commerce group, blasted the ban as "unconstitutional" and threatened to defy it. The Buenos Aires government, meanwhile, has struck back at the decision. City leader Horacio Rodriguez Larretta said "there are thousands of people who enjoy themselves in a healthy way every night and we are going to defend them. We are asking the judiciary to revoke the ban so we can lift this suspension today. We are concerned with addiction, but this doesn't mean we literally have to close down the whole of the city's nightlife."
RA