Is it safe?
That’s a question being asked about downtown Vancouver’s Granville Entertainment District after the death of a nightclub employee who tried to break up a fight and was stabbed.
Coverage of the Granville Entertainment District on Globalnews.ca:
Kalwinder Thind, 23, tried to halt the fight after it broke out inside the Cabana Lounge and then spilled out on to Granville Street at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Thind died in hospital after he was stabbed.
Now, Vancouver city Coun. George Affleck is pushing for action to make the area safer.
He said he asked for Granville Street to be reassessed back in 2013, but that he was shot down.
“I was literally told this was not needed,” Affleck said.
“I live downtown, I said we need to fix this street, it’s not working.”
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he’s going to meet with police Chief Adam Palmer to talk about the violence on the street — sexual violence, too.
“We’ve seen sexual assaults be a constant problem for people in the Granville Entertainment District as well,” he said.
READ MORE: Granville Strip nightclub employee dies trying to break up fight
Cabana Lounge is a member of BarWatch, an initiative aimed at reducing violence in clubs.
BarWatch chair Curtis Robinson said Granville Street is a “safe place to go.”
“We have got a code of conduct that if you act out like this individual did, or you’re a member of a gang, or a gang associate, you’re not allowed in any BarWatch bars,” he said.
For now, police are looking for people who posted video of the Cabana incident on social media. Detectives want the unedited versions.
“That could mean things that happened inside the club, during the actual incident or after the incident,” said Vancouver police Sgt. Jason Robillard.
Five people were arrested in connection with the incident, but they were released.
There have been no other arrests or charges.