PROVIDENCE — The city Board of Licenses has ordered that the nightclub Pulse be shut down temporarily as a threat to public safety. And the club owner is asking the board to hold off on a scheduled hearing that would allow him to contest the shutdown.

At the request of the Police Department, the license board suspended the operating licenses of the South Providence nightclub because three men were shot — one later died — inside the club on Christmas morning. The police allege that it was only the latest in a string of troublesome incidents at Pulse.

The board had scheduled a hearing for 10 a.m. today at City Hall, as required by law, to give club licensee A.A.T. Restaurant Corp. an opportunity to contest the suspension.

The board may suspend a license without notice to a licensee for 72 hours for any reason that the board deems to be in the public interest. But the board must then give the licensee a hearing — with three days’ written notice — at which the licensee may dispute the suspension.

Joseph Keough, lawyer for Alex Tomasso, owner of A.A.T. Restaurant Corp., contacted city officials yesterday to ask for a continuance of the scheduled hearing. Tomasso has agreed to temporarily waive his rights to a swift hearing and an appeal and to keep Pulse closed for the time being, according to Richard H. Aitchison, city license administrator.

Pulse closed after the shooting, and according to police Maj. Paul Fitzgerald, the club was not scheduled to reopen until tonight. By asking for a delay, police officers said, Tomasso is giving up what promised to be lucrative business over the New Year’s weekend.

The board will meet this morning at 11 to consider the request for a continuance and no testimony about the management of Pulse or the shooting is expected to be presented, Aitchison said. One of the five board members, Rep. Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, is not expected to participate. Fox, who has been in business with Tomasso, recused himself and left the room when the board voted Wednesday to suspend the licenses.