Mexico City looks to rein in street drinking after massive World Cup party

MEXICO CITY: Mexico City’s government said on Friday it is considering measures to limit the sale of alcohol in public spaces, after over 700,000 people gathered downtown to celebrate Mexico’s football team advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup.

Mexico’s victory against South Korea saw massive street celebrations, with fans dressed in green Tri jerseys or wearing colorful Lucha Libre masks and dancing in the rain, waving flags, singing anthems and blowing on vuvuzelas.

The next morning, Reforma Avenue – one of the city’s main arteries – was littered with trash and many of its yellow cempasuchil flowers had been trampled over. Authorities collected some 40 tonnes of waste around the historic centre.

Mexico City’s government secretary Cesar Cravioto told a press conference that part of the government’s duty of care during the massive football event is prevention and this involves controlling illegal sales of alcohol on the streets.

Cravioto said the government would ask restaurants and bars in the area to prevent customers from taking alcoholic drinks off premises and that convenience stores nearby could be asked to stop selling alcohol in the hours before a big game.

The government said it was planning on setting up seven more large screens around the centre – in addition to the current 12 – to help disperse crowds, and that it would deploy more personnel to limit the sale of beer by street vendors.

“We will keep insisting that fans have fun but without excessive alcohol consumption,” Cravioto said.

In Boston, another World Cup host city, Scottish fans known as the “Tartan Army” drank such vast quantities of beer after Scotland’s team beat Haiti 1-0 at the city stadium, that several bars reported running dry.

Mexico is set to face the Czech Republic in the group stage on Wednesday.