LEWISTON – A weekend brawl at the Blue Elephant could cost the club its entertainment permit.

The City Council voted this week not to renew the bar’s annual special amusement permit. Councilors will take up the matter again at their March 16 meeting, formally denying the club the ability to play music or to have a DJ, karaoke or games on site.

Police Chief William Welch said club security allowed patrons to wear gang colors and symbols in the bar over the weekend, culminating in a disturbance that led to several arrests early Saturday morning.

“I give the managers credit for trying to make things better,” Welch said. “But since August, there have been 31 arrests there. That’s too many, and it shows how patrolling that bar ties up my police force. If they have to be there, they’re not out protecting the rest of the city.”

Police have responded to numerous complaints about the Blue Elephant and neighboring Club Adrenaline since the summer. Elderly neighbors in the Oak Park Apartments have complained of late-night noise, rowdiness and crimes from the bar’s patrons.

Councilors are considering new zoning rules that might ban bars in the neighborhood and have requested a meeting with the city Planning Board to talk about it.

Councilors review special-use permits annually. City Administrator Jim Bennett said bar owners Ajantha Weerakkody and Aja Stevens-Bell knew that their club was under scrutiny this past week.

“Normally, that’s when you’d put your best foot forward,” Bennett said. “But they didn’t do that in this situation.”

Weerakkody told councilors he had taken steps to address the problems. He had banned 28 people from coming into the club and had met several times with his neighbors from Oak Park.

“Based on their complaints, we cut back the nights we are open to four nights,” Weerakkody said. He also hired a private security firm to check IDs at the door.

“We try very hard to do a good business,” he said. “But it seems that when we have any success, we are punished.”

Council President Renee Bernier told the owners she had visited the neighborhood on three occasions to watch bar patrons. Each time, she said, people leaving the club were carrying cups or dark-colored bottles.

“Perhaps you serve root beer and that’s what they had, but it looked like beer bottles to me,” Bernier said.

That would be in violation of the club’s state liquor license.