After the ongoing teachers strike in high schools was blamed for recent cases of youth violence, police announced Monday that youth violence has actually gone down during the strike. Police said the number of reports of physical attacks involving minors had dropped by 48 percent in October as compared to October 2006, while the number of complaints involving various types of sex crimes had dropped by 71-80 percent.
Despite the statistics, the parents of one recent crime victim, 16-year-old Raz Hajaj, said their son would not have been killed in a fight if school had been in session. Police said they had prepared for the strike by increasing police presence in clubs and other areas where youths congregated in public.