Russia: Teen Curfew; Police Officer’s Shooting Spree · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On April 20, it was announced that President Dmitry Medvedev approved the changes to children's rights law, allowing regional authorities to bar minors under the age of 18, unaccompanied by parents or legal guardians, from public places – “for example, in the street, stadiums, parks, squares, public transport and Internet cafes” – from 10 PM to 6 AM. Below is one of the reactions (RUS) from the Russian blogosphere, by LJ user oleg_kozyrev:
Medvedev and the children
The president sincerely believes that the day after the 18th birthday is the first day when a young person can venture outside after 10 PM.
That is, tomorrow is already time for him to be drafted into the army, to defend the country, to be trusted with tanks and rockets, but a week before that, he was not yet trusted with stepping beyond the threshold of his house after 10 PM. And this concerns all children – those from the villages, and those on vacation, and students, and those who attend music schools and chess classes, and those who are out in the field trip to make a fire and bake potatoes, and those who are into astronomy and are outdoors with a neighbor friend and with a telescope, observing the stars – all of them.
It's actually an incredible joke. IN THE TIME OF PEACE, THEY'VE INTRODUCED CURFEW FOR ALL RUSSIA'S YOUNG PEOPLE.
High crime rates? Fire [minister of the interior Rashid Nurgaliyev]. What do the young people have to do with it?
IF THE PRESIDENT CAN'T SECURE ORDER IN THE STREETS AND INTRODUCES CURFEW AS A SOLUTION – IT'S WORTH FOR SUCH A PRESIDENT TO CONSIDER A DIFFERENT JOB
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Below are some of the comments to this post:
georg_pik:
A person can get access to classified information at the age of 17 (many students need to have such access by the first year of their studies). It means that a first-year student with access to documents that constitute state secret do not have the right to go out into the street after 10 PM.
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phillennium
And what if it's a first-year student at the evening department, where the last class may end, for example, at 9:50 PM.
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oleg_kozyrev:
I don't know what world the politicians who adopted this law are living in. Must be some unreal world, in which young people don't work, don't study – don't live.
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komsomolka_new
Maybe they'd prefer to do without young people at all. Retired people are more active at voting. And they usually ask the election commission at the polling station who to vote for.
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Anonymous:
There is one thing – the most important one – missing from this law: the way it is in civilized Europe – all food stores (especially including those that sell alcohol) work till 3 PM on Saturdays and are closed on Sundays!!! [This should be introduced] all over Russia!!
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lev_evgenevi4:
All is okay – this is just another law that is not going to be observed until a cop suddenly wants some money.
At least three of LJ user oleg_kozyrev‘s readers mention Denis Yevsyukov, a Moscow police officer who shot three people to death and wounded six in a supermarket on April 20, the day he turned 32:
m_holodkowski:
That's right! Who needs to take walks at night when there are Yevsyukovs with bandit guns all around! ;)
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miecz_kaina:
This is a preventive measure, to keep the police from shooting those who haven't reached the age of 18 after 10 PM.
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alrihard:
Kids provoke Yevsyukovs. A drunk cop would enter a supermarket in the evening/at night to buy vodka, his wife […] hasn't given it to him yet, and here are all those happy young boys and girls…
Following Major Yevsyukov's shooting spree, president Medvedev sacked Colonel-General Vladimir Pronin, Moscow’s police chief since 2001.