Many of us comment on how polite French children are, but there are just as many "yobs" here as anywhere else. More than a dozen communes have experienced problems at their open air swimming pools in recent days. Gangs of youths fighting; night time incursions; invasions of pools reserved for swimming clubs, the situation in many municipal pools has become so serious that maires are thinking of closing them.
Others are employing security guards, even with dogs. One maire commented that pools should be places of leisure, not heavily guarded camps. One might think that a night time dip is part of teenage rites of passage (we lived near the seaside and often had nocturnal excursions) but communes are responsible for safety and incur costs in clearing away bottles, cans and cigarette ends.
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