It is 1:45 a.m. on a Saturday night, and the bars along 1st Avenue N. in downtown Minneapolis are erupting like alcohol-fueled volcanos.
At least 10,000 people spill onto the streets from 30 bars and clubs in a five-block hub that's the epicenter of nightlife in the metro. Guards hired by one popular club line the sidewalk in a show of force. Police cars barricade the street to traffic, and officers have tear gas at the ready. Cops on horseback push through the surging crowd. A few partiers get maced. Outside a pizza joint, one guy suddenly sucker-punches another in the face as witnesses shriek.
Unruly scenes have become common as the city's jammed club district exhales its boozy humanity late on weekend nights. But the atmosphere has been moving rapidly beyond chaotic to tense and dangerous, and city officials have had enough.
Early last Monday, in the span of 10 minutes as bars let out in the swarming entertainment district, three men were shot, two in the head and one in the upper body.
Police are "dealing with people who are coming downtown to pick a fight," said City Council Member Lisa Goodman. "You mix that with alcohol and the late night, and you can have an explosive situation. I worry about the safety of the police, to be honest."
To control the inebriated crowds, Minneapolis police are pouring in resources -- at least $15,000 each weekend night.
But city officials say that might not be enough to tame the scene and are beginning to employ other means to crack down. On Friday, they took the unusual step of recommending that the club Karma, which they had already declared a "public nuisance," close immediately for 90 days and come up with a plan for better security.
Police also have long suggested that the city restrict the popular 18-plus nights, when many downtown clubs admit those who otherwise would be underage, either by setting a 10 p.m. curfew on those nights, phasing out the special nights or segregating the underage from the 21-and-older crowd. But the clubs have stridently objected, and the matter has never come before the City Council.