Adrenaline rush

The ban on alcohol and energy drinks did not stop graduates from organizing mass celebrations

One large youth party, which the streets of the capital turned into yesterday on the occasion of a graduation party in Moscow schools, can, perhaps, be compared in the intensity of emotions with the recent celebrations of the Russian football team's entry into the semi-finals of Euro 2008. And this is despite the strict sanctions of the capital’s authorities regarding not only strong drinks, but also energy drinks that are familiar to city schoolchildren.

More than 70 thousand graduates of 1,400 capital schools took part in the graduation ceremony, which started yesterday at six o’clock and traditionally lasted until dawn. The celebration of the end of secondary education began with the presentation of certificates, farewell to teachers, the last school skits and discos, and continued in the capital's entertainment venues, on board river buses and at city holiday venues. According to the head of the city department of education, Olga Larionova, only 15 thousand of the entire army of graduates celebrated farewell to the school at 11 specially prepared large venues in the capital. In particular, about 3 thousand took part in the festive concert at the State Kremlin Palace, more than 3 thousand went to the Olimpiysky Palace that evening, almost 2 thousand had fun at the small sports arena of Luzhniki and about 1.5 thousand - at the Moscow International House of Music.

In addition, in most administrative districts of the city, according to Ms. Larionova, their own venues were organized for the last school evening. In an attempt to curb the energy of grown-up schoolchildren, officials organized bus excursions around Moscow for graduates of 359 educational institutions, visiting Vorobyovy Gory, Poklonnaya Gora, and Red Square, which were already popular for independent walks. On the city river transport there was a place for graduates of 38 capital schools, and 963 newly minted applicants from 24 capital schools were taken on excursions to the Moscow region and St. Petersburg.

However, this did not prevent everyone else from relaxing after eleven years at their desks on city streets and traditional youth playgrounds: on Red, Manezhnaya, Lubyanskaya and Pushkinskaya squares. And “so that this day would not be overshadowed by anything,” according to the deputy head of the main department of internal affairs of the capital, Major General of Police Vyacheslav Kozlov, security on the city streets was ensured by 3.5 thousand police officers. The places of traditional alumni celebrations were taken under special control.

The head of the city's social sector complex, Lyudmila Shvetsova, announced that this year's graduation party would be surprisingly sober a month before the gala day. “From year to year, the number of children in the capital who want to celebrate their graduation party and last call in cafes and restaurants is rapidly growing. But even if schools give their consent to such a celebration, there should absolutely be no “drinking” there,” said Ms. Shvetsova. At the same time, the sale of alcohol was banned everywhere on this day. In addition, according to her, at the height of the fun, headquarters were working in the city, which were supposed to control any possibility of selling and drinking alcohol.

And just a few days before graduation, they decided to apply similar prohibitive measures to the so-called “energy drinks.” “Energy drinks will be just as prohibited as alcohol,” Larisa Kurneshova, head of the city’s education department, said recently. According to her, Ms. Shvetsova gave “instructions to our law enforcement agencies to monitor this as carefully as the sale, carrying and drinking of alcohol.”

Yulia KHOMCHENKO