A resident of Zagreb's Vrbani neighborhood took to a Facebook group to report the daily reckless behavior of about fifteen boys at the school playground, with similar reports coming from Prečko.
A concerned parent from Zagreb's Vrbani neighborhood on Monday posted an appeal in a Facebook group for residents of that part of the city, addressing parents whose children are engaging in dangerous behavior at the school playground. According to his account, a group of about fifteen boys, all dressed in black, daily use electric scooters and small electric bicycles to endanger the young children playing there.
"A group of kids, about 15 of them, all dressed in black, are running wild at the school playground every day, breaking glass, and zooming in on those electric contraptions among the little kids. It's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt-it could be my child," he wrote in a post that was picked up by Večernji list and Zagreb.info.
As he claims, he and other parents try to warn the boys about their behavior daily, but they are met only with insults. "They're warned every day not to do it, but they ignore it and start insulting us parents. The moment someone calls the police, they take off, and then they insult us even more," Zagreb.info quotes him as saying.
The Vrbani resident points out that this is not a new problem, but it has escalated. "This hasn't been going on since yesterday; it's been going on for a long time, but now it's really crossing every line," he said, concluding his appeal: "I sincerely ask you to talk to your kids-I don't want anyone to get hurt."
The post sparked numerous reactions, with residents of the neighboring Prečko neighborhood commenting that they witness almost identical scenes. One user described gatherings in the park near the Red Apple pub.
"Kids aged 14-15 come, probably after football practice at NK Prečko, and they litter, curse, borrow scooters from each other, and ride them without helmets in the park and on the road. I appeal to parents to prevent a tragedy before it happens," she wrote.
Another Zagreb resident shared an even more dangerous scene from the road: "Today, a kid in front of me blew through a red light across both lanes, toward Point, like a bullet across four lanes and the tram tracks, and I don't think he's older than 14," her comment reads.
Photographs of electric scooters accompanying the text were also published by photographer Boris Kovačev (CROPIX), illustrating the everyday reality of Zagreb's neighborhoods where these modes of transport have become an indispensable, yet increasingly problematic, part of the picture.
