Sweden: high school students celebrate at Studenten in Stockholm after a difficult year
Audio 01:24
Swedish high school students celebrate the end of high school, by June 2020 in Stockholm.
In Sweden, senior high school students have been among the most affected by health restrictions.
Jessica GOW / TT News Agency / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
This weekend in Sweden was that of the Studenten, those unbridled parties which since the 19th century have celebrated the end of high school and entry to university or working life.
Restrictions are still in place in Sweden, including on the number of people allowed to assemble, but young people have often ignored them.
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With our correspondent in Stockholm,
Frédéric Faux
The Studenten is an unbridled party that begins with a champagne breakfast with all your class in a city park, a last meal in the canteen, a fanfare out of the school where you throw a cap towards the sky. white, and then a series of parties that continue until the next day.
Restrictions ?
Benjamin and Markus preferred to forget them.
“
I was at a friend's party yesterday which was supposed to be a small party, and there were 200 of us,”
says Benjamin.
We did everything: extinguisher battles, fireworks….
"
Even if there is the corona it's good to celebrate this last year, it's the end of a chapter
", continues Markus.
One of the traditions of the Studenten is that each class takes its place in the back of a truck to parade through the streets of the city, shouting and singing.
The town hall banned this kind of gathering, but the high school students found a loophole: “
Instead of a truck, we are going on a boat this year.
A lot of people have done that,
”laughs Benjamin.
“
It's a legal vacuum
, explains Markus,
they forgot to ban the rental of these boats.
"
A party all the more necessary for its high school students as they were among the most affected by the restrictions.
As the authorities felt that they were the most capable of supporting distance education, many of them only came to their establishment one week out of three.
►Also read: Covid-19: Sweden begins the gradual lifting of its restriction measures
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