The owner of two downtown Reykjavík pubs – Monte Carlo and Mónakó – is seeking 15 million ISK in damages from the City for “bullying.”
“When elected city officials decide, more or less as one, to engage in power abuse, bullying and criminal activity towards people in town, in cooperation with the police, there is no other choice than to take the matter to court,” pub owner Margeir Margeirsson told reporters.
He is referring to the City Council’s intent to not renew the pubs’ operational licences in 2011. Margeir says 10 of the 15 million he now seeks is to recompense him for legal expenses he used to fight the pub closures.
The director of the Residents Association told reporters that many people living near the pubs regarded them as a haven for drugs and violence. The problem, he said, had become so great that even those complaining about the clubs had been reluctant to do so under their own names. Business owners also complained that the clientele, which Monte Carlo and Mónakó attracts had driven away business.
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