Last Sunday, May 11, little Ian, six years old, (Madrid), where there is a school, and died the next day. That dramatic fact has reactivated protests to ask for safe school environments, with fewer cars, pollution and noise. If five years ago they were channeled through the – which cut the streets in front of the schools one Friday a month – now translate into a support for the European campaign: the initiative that organizes 550 protests throughout Europe, 80 of them in Spain, to which both the children’s school and the school located in the place of the last outrage have been added. “It is a shame, until these misfortunes do not happen, the administration does not take us seriously, but they show us that we must continue to protest,” says Yetta Aguado, of a school revolt in Madrid.
Cars cause numerous problems in schools: high levels of pollution – 99% exceed the levels of NO2 recommended by the World Health Organization, in 174 centers. Also problems linked to noise, because they occupy most of the streets and, sometimes, even get on the sidewalks, making it difficult to walk safely.
The abuses are not, then, the only danger associated with traffic, but they do work as protests catalysts. , a five -year -old boy who left his school in Barcelona. The outrage of the families germinated in the school revolt, which extended by schools in the Catalan capital and then jumped into other cities. In 2021, Maria, six years old, was mortally overwhelmed by SUV in Madrid, which prompted the school revolt to take a lot of strength in the capital. In Amsterdam, he created a strong social movement that ended up filling the city of bike lanes.
“Most of the street cuts that are going to occur this Friday were requested for a long time, because it is a European day, but of course the news of the abuse in Usera reinforces us to protest, and also the girl hit,” says Verónica Martínez, of the school revolt. “The pollution produced by cars is also very bad and greatly affects the development of children, but it looks less,” he adds.
The movement is still active in Barcelona. “At first we made biweekly traffic cuts, then we went to monthly, and now we keep them every three months,” says Marc Hurtado, spokesman for the school revolt. “We become 50 Barcelona schools, and now they are 15 or 20, but we want to continue calling the attention of this problem,” he continues. At the high point, more than a hundred centers from several Spanish cities joined.
In Madrid they are in a moment of reflection. “There are many open fronts and sometimes it seems that it is difficult to get anything, so it is hard to mobilize people. But we want to turn impotence into a dynamic of the protest and that the movement returns more force,” says Aguado.
For now, many centers have joined Street for kidswhich has the same objectives. “It is a European campaign that emerged from the school revolt and that claims open streets for childhood, with more security, less noise and less cars. From 2022 we make two calls a year, in spring and autumn, and this Friday the seventh is celebrated, with 80 appointments throughout Spain and more than 550 in the continent,” says Carmen Duce, coordinator of the campaign in Spain. There will be street cuts so that children can play, bicycle and other activities to raise awareness. “The Zofío Children’s School (on Fornillos Street) and the Republic of Venezuela Colegio (on Cerecinos Street), both in the area where they hit Ian,” they continue, “he continues.
Corted streets and speed controls
Ana Vázquez has two children, one in the zofío and one in Venezuela, and will participate in the protests. “The outrage has brought back a concern that already existed. In that street the speed is already limited to 20 per hour, but it is not fulfilled. Many things can be done: speed controls, cut the street during the entrance and exit of the school, change the pavement for cobblestones, install tall shots …”. And it sets as an example that some centers in Madrid have achieved things.
The City Council of the Capital points out that “it has improved since the past mandate around 350 school environments”, but the actions vary greatly: in some cases it is only paint on the ground, in others the sidewalks or placed fences have been extended, while only in three schools have been opted for total pedestrianizations. The Consistory recalls that the outrage did not occur on a school day and points out that “the environment of both centers has already improved: the sidewalk where the children’s school is located has a safety fence and the street has signage. The same happens in the case of access to the school, in which, in addition, by allowing the space, the sidewalks were extended and earrings were created in pedestrian crossings”.
In Barcelona, the Municipal Program We protect schools [protegemos las escuelas] He acted in the surroundings of 200 schools, a third of the total, with ambitious actions that removed space to the car and created pedestrian space. “The problem is that in this legislature no new action has been made in two years, nor does it seem to be planned. That leads us to continue protesting,” says Hurtado.
The examples in which everyone looks are London and, above all, Paris. “London has a program to pedestrianize school streets and is doing it little by little. And Paris has gone further and has already removed the traffic of 500 schools,” says Guille López, one of the School Revolta drivers who is now a councilor of Barcelona in Comú. And he advances that the initiative is studied as a law in Catalonia: “The College of Pediatricians of Catalonia has presented a proposal in the Parliament so that by law it is acted in all Catalan school environments to make them safer and less contaminated.”
