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At the end of last year our beloved government gave us the gift of another extraordinarily creative law. Practically placing absolute power in the hands of police, starting from now any hospitality industry establishment, which is open after midnight and serves alcohol, can be restricted or even shut down, with the stroke of a pen. The law was submitted by Antal Rogán, the Mayor of the 5th District, with the intent, that wherever the suspicion of prostitution, drug trafficking or other activity connectible to organized crime arises, the premises in question may be closed down with the passage and delivery of a single resolution. According to Rogán's account, the law was born specifically to combat illegally operated night-clubs, but the legislator couldn't draft the articles in such a way, that those would apply exclusively to them. Murphy's law, of course, became active immediately. Even just after the first month, when police, without any prior notice, restricted the business hours of the entertainment establishment called Trafiq, which is quite popular among youths. As the law is a so-called rubber-law, extraordinarily flexible in its definitions, it can be applied in such cases when, for instance, pedestrian traffic is a bit heavier in front of a certain entertainment establishment and, according to the authorities, this disturbs public order in the street. Well, can anyone name a single place in the world, where there aren't lines standing in front of popular entertainment establishments.

But, as it has become clear, this was just the beginning of the avalanche. Shortly afterward, as our highly trained police force ardently serves and protects us, using our own tax Forints, they set their sights on the ruin pubs, which are considered to be the backbone of the tourist industry in Budapest. Just in the 5th and 7th districts they have compelled the ruin pubs called Supplier Garden, Bobek, Blue Horse, Shop Window and Illegal, to close at midnight. Just to make us unhappy, in addition to these, a restraining order was received by Simple Garden as well, which, in foreign circles, is considered to be a cultic place, thousands of tourists visit this destination, famous for its cultural diversity.

According to the opinions of many, vesting such power in a brute force organization, such as the police, is about as stupid as enrolling an elephant into a ballet school, thus in parallel with the general public indignation, which has upset almost all classes of society, a Facebook group has been formed for the protection of entertainment establishments, which have already been restricted and those, which are endangered.

According to the latest news, these developments surprised Rogán himself, and practicing self-criticism he has commenced a dialogue with those, who are affected. As a result of this, the ruin pubs have been promised a reconsideration and transformation of the law. According to the Mayor's statement this can only happen in February at the earliest. Besides who else will fall victim to this amateurish regulation, we will also be curious, how and under what legal grounds those pubs will be able to reopen, which have already been closed by the resolution.

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