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This is not the usual end of summer, but there are those who try to maintain habits from other years when returning from vacation: having a beer with friends at the end of the day, exceeding rules such as limitation in meetings.
Thursday, 7:00 p.m., Cidade Universitária, in Lisbon. The youth groups meet, for the most part, next to the existing cafes near the Kaleidoscope and the Faculty of Sciences. They have beers or cigarettes in hand, they talk and laugh. The mask is visible on the arm or comes out of a pocket.
Despite the fact that the Lisbon Metropolitan Area remains in a contingency situation – a level that extends to the entire Portuguese continent this Tuesday – and the gathering of more than 10 people or the consumption of alcohol on public roads is not allowed, many Young people seem oblivious to what is stipulated.
Lusa was in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, near Campo Grande, until approximately 8:30 p.m. Commercial establishments close at 20:00, leaving only one restaurant open.
Shortly before, some young people danced to music from a parked car. The walls were filled with young people, beer glasses and bottles. Young people, between 17 and 20 years old, to be young.
The groups dispersed when they saw the cameras pointed in their direction, some donning the masks as a sign that they knew they were breaking the rules.
When the cafes closed, they said goodbye with kisses, hugs and handshakes, everything that would normally be done in a time when the virus did not exist.
None of the young people wanted to speak with Lusa, but the president of the Academic Association of the University of Lisbon, Hélder Semedo, said that many of the young people there are people who “come from outside the ‘campus’, they do not belong to the university ”.
It is noted that there are gatherings, mainly here in the restoration area of this area, of a large number of people who do not properly take care of social distance, the use of the mask. They are smoking, drinking, not paying attention “, he stated.
According to the representative, the student associations of the University of Lisbon and the Academic Association itself are preparing campaigns for the start of the school year, which begins next week, “to raise awareness among university students and mitigate the virus itself.”
We are concerned about openness and we want it to happen. As we have said, it is necessary to re-humanize the university, it needs its students. A university without students makes no sense “he recalled, remembering the atypical semester last, with classes canceled.
According to Hélder Semedo, “it is true that it is not yet known how the 18 schools of the university will handle the situation,” but they are prepared to receive students.
We will have to receive 50 thousand students at a time. Many of them are a little tired of being at home and many do what they are doing now. They want to relax, unwind, and drink their beer, which is normal, we understand. You just need to raise awareness so that there are no more cases of covid-19 and try to mitigate the virus problem “, remembered.
For the president of the Parish Council of Alvalade, José António Borges (PS), the situation of youth meetings in that area is not new. Even before the pandemic, they were “the focus of attraction”, especially “because of the low price of alcoholic beverages.”
In the first months of confinement it was quite good, as in the rest of the city. In September, at the beginning of classes and upon the return of the students to Lisbon, together with a certain desire for uncertainty, there has clearly been excessive attendance at these bars “He explained.
Despite considering that young people “want to go back to their daily routine”, the mayor has stressed that the influx of people is “less than normal”, but “is still excessive for the time” in which they live.
José António Borges said that the board is working with the police authorities so that in the second half of September, “some calm” can return to the area, although it is not known what will happen with the resumption of classes. Still, she knows that the schools “calmly prepare for this return.”
“I think common sense will prevail. The institutions are prepared or are preparing so that things return or return to normal during the class period, and so that this is a focus of youth enthusiasm at the beginning of the school year and then it calms down ”, he said.
The mayor also recalled the “very important” role of student associations “in sensitizing young people so that these behaviors are normalized, in the sense of being cautious in health care.”
Hélder Semedo recalled that most academic events “are canceled until the Rectory itself indicates otherwise” and that “until the situation is normalized” there will be a follow-up of the activities, “in other ways.”
“We are concerned,” he said, adding that Thursday warrants special attention in relation to the gatherings, since it is the academic day and, traditionally, the night of the students.
The Public Security Police registered 308 administrative offenses in August for violation of the Covid-19 containment regulations, with the consumption of alcoholic beverages on public roads responsible for approximately half of the fines (150).
