On the stairs of the Liceo Zorrilla it is common to see teenagers sitting. Laughing, talking and exchanging jokes. However, since the beginning of classes, the climate changed. Bands of young people, including students, alumni and their friends, confront the pineapples at the door, threaten with electric batons and impose fear on the students, who want the violence to stop, whatever it takes.
The students are afraid. They speak low, so that it is not heard that they are talking and counting the internal. He is afraid that it will leak. A meeting of parents is taking place in the library, motivated by the viralization of videos of a brutal fight between two gangs, in which the sound of a cattle prod is heard.
In turn, WhatsApp messages from members of a gang threatening a shootout at the door at 5:00 p.m. went viral. In addition, six young people tried to get into high school in the morning, but were stopped by officials. Parents ask the director for explanations. Some call for police intervention. “It’s a public safety issue. I am not going to send my daughter here“, says a father. Ask for cameras and police.
Another says no, that the intervention “of the military is useless.” “We have to go out. To say that the neighborhood is ours. Do you think that some 15-year-old gurises are going to come here with all of us with a weapon that we don’t know if it’s real or a toy?“, he answers.
The tone rises. They debate whether to close the high school or not. “Fear cannot win us. If we close, it means they won“, says the director, who denounced one of the fights to the Police. Most agree. They agree to send a letter to ANEP so that they can make decisions. ANEP sent a public statement stating that the management teams are working on the territory and in the protection of students”.
A student asks to speak. She says that she is afraid and starts crying in the middle of the meeting. “It is horrible to come to study with fear. I am always on the stairs and I see the things that happen. And I can’t say half the things. this is not new“He says while crying and asking to leave.
Those from the student union denounce that the problems began in high school 5, José Pedro Varela, which is around the corner from Zorrilla, and where the basic cycle is located. That the majority of the band are students from there, who remained repeaters, or who directly dropped out of high school and did not go on to do high school at Zorrilla. They talk about adolescent alumni who are still hanging around the high school because they have friends, many who did go to Zorrilla. Some have been taken into custody and a toy gun seized as police try to investigate whether they are linked to the fights and shooting threats.
Most of the students were not sent by their parents this Friday. They debate whether to send them on Monday. The students listen. Many ask to close for a few days and to catch those responsible. “I don’t care if they put police here because I’m going to take the bus two blocks away. I walk two blocks and I’m afraid they’ll hit me. We are afraid”.
