Seattle Mayor Wants to Close All Hookah Lounges!

Shisha comes in for a lot of stick, but this one really does take the biscuit.
The Mayor of Seattle, Ed Murray is trying to close all the hookah lounges in the city using the excuse that "indoor smoking is prohibited". However he also believes they're magnets for violent crime.
Others are not sure though and are rallying in support against this crackdown. They see it clearly as a race issue as the lounges are used mostly by East Africans and Middle Easterns. Also, the lounges are alcohol free and it's mostly young people playing card and dice games. Yes, there has been trouble at lounges, but is that the fault of the lounges, the hookah or maybe the people? Surely the way to solve this isn't to simply close down one particular type of entertainment? Won't the violence just move on to another type?
We don't have this trouble in the UK, so why so bad in the USA? What do you think?
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