In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Mauritian Police Force performed its “duty” in a manner eerily reminiscent of a scene from the acclaimed gangsta rap biopic “Straight outta Compton”.
In the film, black urban youth band N.W.A. (Niggers With Attitude) were forbidden by a city ordinance from performing their protest song “F*ck tha Police” during a concert in Detroit. Frustrated that their right to freedom of expression was being violated since the controversial lyrics of their song merely “reflected their reality”, they performed it anyway. Immediately, the police stopped the concert to jeers from the audience and arrested the band members.
In Mauritius, the popular international DJ S.Q.L. was performing his set at Big Willy’s, a popular “restaurant, bar and night club” located in a commercial complex in Tamarin. At exactly 2am, the police raided the party and ordered the music to stop. Stunned organisers and promoters tried to plead with the principal officer on behalf of the audience to permit the event to continue. But the officer was adamant and shouted back at the top of his voice like an authoritarian father demanding obedience from his mischievous two-year old son. The police had apparently received a “noise complaint” and so the party was over. How convenient it was that the expert with the sound measuring apparatus was available to investigate a “spontaneous” complaint at such short notice.
As the police confiscated the mixing desks, many of the hundreds of disappointed party-goers took up the chant “What the f*ck?” If the police want the respect of the Mauritian youth then they need to learn to act respectfully; simply wearing blue uniforms is not sufficient in the 21st century. It is not the police’s duty to blindly enforce the letter of the law, they have significant discretionary powers and can permit relatively harmless transgressions or handle them in a more appropriate manner. How many times has a ministerial cavalcade been stopped for speeding?
Some questions deserve to be answered:
1. Why was Big Willy’s closed down whereas nearby Shotz, and other nightclubs in residential environments are always allowed to stay open? Have there never been other noise complaints? Such apparent arbitrariness leads to suspicions of political interference.
2. Why didn’t the police warn the organisers beforehand so that the party could be cancelled or re-located? This was not the first party at Big Willy’s and the Cyber Patrol Unit, whose original mandate was to protect children on-line and but now appears to persecute anyone who might inadvertently “humiliate” the police, must surely have noticed the extensive promotion of the event on facebook.
3. What will be the impact on tourism if random crack-downs continue? Visitors enjoy these parties as much as locals. Mauritius: c’est un plaisir, not a police state.
4. Why aren’t outmoded laws amended? The legislation regarding bars, nightclubs and events needs to be revised to reflect modern reality, not archaic patriarchy.
In the interests of Good Governance, aren’t the relevant authorities obliged to respond?
So the cyber unit was set up to protect children??? Slightly ironic…. Just ask Mums of the North!
The Cyber Patrol Unit yes. http://www.fosigrid.org/africa/mauritius
Just a question….as a nightclub..was it not in the owner’s best interest to get all the required permits beforehand in order to prevent something like that from happening in the first place? Since we all know how the police tends to act why not just take all the necessary precautions. You can’t really lay all the blame on the police. If they didn’t have the permit to stay up past 2:00 am then they brought it upon themselves, end of.
It’s a good point. Further research has revealed that the permits were in place and that the police action was on the basis of a “noise complaint”. If the complaint was a spontaneous one, then it is a remarkable coincidence that an expert with sound measuring apparatus was available at short notice.
Generally the police usually just warns you to keep it down…but i imagine that an event especially a popular one would have been heard from quite a distance…but yeah it’s kind of a difficult situation..if the event was nearly over the police could have let it go on but if that’s not the case, then i suppose there was no alternative but to cut it short. lol the police don’t really have a good reputation so they don’t really care how they do things.
If the police can prove that they were acting on a spontaneous complaint and that they follow the same procedure for similar noise complaints then the article will be retracted. We await the evidence…
We are 2016!!!! I am so sad for the non hindu/muslim in Mauritius. It’s a great article, you’re right the law for NIGHT LIFE must be amended in Mtius! Tout les catholiques have to make lots of kids, so that in 20 years we can take over this beautiful Island back. Good luck with the fight, we can and we will.
@ f*ck the P. We’ll just assume you are an ignorant little kid. Bringing this to a religious context is simply 16th Century, Hindus and Muslim enjoy night life as much as everyone else, and probably spend more money in clubs to keep them running if you want to go there. It’s with the mentality of people like you that our country will never progress to be a real multicultural paradise. we are here talking about MUSIC… MUSIC unites and break down barriers… Get the well in ur nuthead and change this outdated mentality of yours.
Why do you use the term (probably spend more money in clubs to keep them running)the words more means what for you…
il n’y a pas de vraiment de voisins au big willys et c ouvert depuis tant d’annes sans aucun problemes, l y a toujours des soirees musicaux sans interruptions c bizzare voir louche et de toute facon c la signature de nos nouveaux dirrigents et la police memme a dit dans un reportage que leurs decibelometres n’etaient pas bon et quils devait passer une nouvelle comande alors un officier avec un decibelometre defectueux dans une discotheque c’est une descente avec premeditation si je peut me permettre d’utilise ce mot car de nos jours on se retrouve derriere les barreaux pour n’importe quoi surtout la liberte d’expressions. en passant il y a une foto d’un policier c contre la nouvelle loi et le photographe va etre arreter bientot par la cid lolllllllllllll
From Big Willy’s facebook page:
Mise au Point / Décibels
Suite à la soirée de SQL le Samedi 19 Mars 2016.
Je tiens personnellement à préciser que le Big Willy’s a tout ses permis conformément aux lois.
L’intervention de la force policière a eu lieu suite à un déplacement de decibels après minuit.
La force policière est intervenue suivant les procedures en vigueur. Elle a effectué son travail et ne peut être mise en cause.
Le message a été fort et clair.
Les règles seront dorénavant mieux respectées conformément aux decibels préconisés par les autorités.
Je tiens à présenter mes excuses auprès du voisinage pour ce débordement.
L’association des propriétaires de discothèque et son Président Popo Hazareesing n’ont aucune responsabilité dans l’intervention de la police. Ils sont confrères et des amis.
Je remercie tous nos clients pour leurs supports habituels.
Big Willy’s sera ouvert dès Mardi aux horaires habituels et son fonctionnement reste inchangé.
Le Big Willy’s est et restera un lieu de Rendez-Vous pour la culture Nationale et Internationale.
SHOW MUST GO ON!!!!
Managing Director
Mr Fréderic Bergé