Interior Minister Luis Alberto Heber said that the latest cases of fights between gangs of high school students they are a new phenomenon. According to the minister, there are already police officers in the vicinity of the high schools to “dissuade clashes.”
“It’s something new that we were not used to. Fights yes (there were), but these generalized gangs of high schools that are expected at the exit and that confront each other violently is quite unusual for us,” said the minister at a press conference.
This Friday there was a new high school gang fightthis time among students from the Batlle y Ordóñez Institute (IBO) and the Liceo N°63 Idea Vilariño, both from the Prado neighborhood.
These events are added to the violent clashes that students from the Zorrilla High School and High School 5, where the police arrested two minors and an adult after a fight. Incidents were also recorded at the UTU in Barrio Sur and at the Liceo 1 in Las Piedras.
For Heber “worries” the “high degree of violence” in high schools, a phenomenon that “appeared now,” according to the minister.
“There are threats by Facebook inviting to fights, Intelligence is working,” he added and explained that there are “challenges” for groups to meet in the vicinity of educational centers.
The minister acknowledged that there had been fights before, but not “generalized.”
“The way to prevent is with a police presence. I’m not saying inside, but in the immediate vicinity. We already have police officers around the corner, undercover or in person to deter fighting,” Heber said.
