Police will now keep a close eye on customers of nightclubs and bars who end up at the seawall as well as street vendors as a result of a beating incident in Sogi earlier this month.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Police Commissioner, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo appealed to the public, especially those who are regular customers of the bars and nightclubs in Sogi and the R.O.S.A nightclub to be aware of the police patrols and bans at the seawall.

He added that this will also enable street vendors to avoid selling unnecessary items to the nightclubs and bars and avoid them from being kicked out by police following the ban.

"If you see now in town, especially in Sogi and at the seawalls, there's been some change with people going in and out of clubs and bars and ending up at the seawalls," he explained.

"This is how troubles and incidents start, because they either finish their alcohols at the seawall or drink there almost the whole night which prompts the street vendors to come and sell their items to them.

"From now on, we are no longer allowing that to happen and we urge them to be aware of this and that police will continue to patrol around the seawalls and Apia to keep an eye out for this."

Auapaau also stressed that specifically for the seawall in Sogi, even other members of the public who may not be drunk, are banned from the seawall around night time due to this prohibition.

"Some of the street vendor kids come and take advantage of the drunkards at the seawall especially when they're blackout drunk which usually causes these troubles," Auapaau added. "If they don't go back inside to the clubs or bars, then they should go home. 

"That's how it will be."

The Commissioner named the well-known nightclubs, Club 75 and Le R.O.S.A, and the Millenia Bar in Sogi where most incidents took place.

Meanwhile, two street vendors in their 20s have been identified by the police as perpetrators in a brutal beating incident in Sogi earlier in the month and have now been charged with assault.

This follows an appeal by the police two weeks ago following an assault in Sogi on a Saturday night where a man and a taxi driver were both assaulted by a group of men and women. 

Auapaau in a previous interview said that the two men in their 20s are street vendors from Leone and investigations continue.

"For the incident in Sogi where the taxi driver and a man were beaten, two have been charged by police, they're men in their twenties from Leone," he said. "They were amongst those street vendors who are always selling stuff in Sogi so they've been identified and charged."

According to Auapaau, the two will remain in custody until their appearance in court on 31 October.

The taxi driver who was assaulted works for the Triple Seven (777) taxi stand in Sogi, according to the taxi stand owner Nouata Nouata, in a previous interview with the Samoa Observer. The fight, which led to the assault of the taxi driver and the unidentified man, occurred next to the taxi stand.

He added that his phone, wallet and other important documents he had on him that night were also stolen on the night of the assault.