The arrival of the warmer weather has brought young people flocking to Tammsaare Park, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported. Concerns have been raised about alcohol consumption and, while the bulk of the young people, some of them from as far afield as Keila or Paldiski, are reportedly peaceable, poor behavior on the part of a minority.

As a result, many local residents have started avoiding the park in the evenings.

Both the state Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) and Tallinn's own Municipal Police (Mupo) will be increasing their presence in and around the park, and from Monday a private security firm is to be contracted to patrol too.

Anders Allandi, head of the PPA's East Harju investigations unit, noted that while some of the disruption starts off as smaller, if anti-social, behavior, it can escalate.

"Perhaps they commit some kind of mischief there, smashing glass bottles. Occasionally people have thrown water balloons at others. It even goes as far as people starting to fight playfully, then some fights turn serious, which has led us to open criminal proceedings," Allandi said.

The evening before "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported from the park, the police had been notified that a 22-year-old man was brandishing a knife in the park at a time when many minors were nearby. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against the man, though incidents of this kind have become commonplace, Allandi said. "We have repeatedly received many call-outs there related to weapon-like objects or knives, so in reality there was nothing surprising about the substance of this incident," he added.

The PPA have been called out to the park over 60 times so far this year; the figure for the whole of 2025 stood at 252 call-outs.

Tammsaare Park is bounded by Pärnu mnt and Estonia pst to the north and south, and by the Viru Keskus mall to the east, and the Estonia Theater to the west.

It was remodeled several years ago, with features including a concert area and fairground; the park's center was envisioned as a peaceful oasis in downtown Tallinn. That it has turned out to be anything but that is, however, no surprise, given the incomplete nature of the layout towards the concert house side, architect Mihkel Tüür said.

"The undeveloped section has no lighting, no coherent network of paths, and no bench infrastructure. This is very simple: If we leave a kitchen unfinished in an apartment and later complain that we can't cook, then the problem is exactly the same here. We have left one room unfinished, but now there is concern that people cannot live there normally," Tüür said.

The authorities are bracing themselves for daily call-outs as summer approaches.

Tallinn City Center District Elder Nikita Groznov (Center) said these will operate 2 p.m. until 10 p.m., extended to as late as 2 a.m. at the weekend. The PPA and Mupo are dividing up responsibility geographically, Groznov said. "Mupo and the regular police each have their own beats. One separate patrol will cover Tammsaare Park, Kanuti Gardens and Musumägi. Another patrol will cover the rest of the parks in the city center," Groznov said.

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