The kids have been punished for doing graffiti

Jan 16, 2009 08:11 GMT  ·  By

Officers from the Police Department in the Mexican city of Guadalupe, near Monterrey, are accused of spray-painting four youngsters, aged 14 to 16, who were captured while doing graffiti on the town's public property. Allegedly, the policemen spray-painted their hair, shoes and buttocks, as a lesson against picking the spray can ever again. However, the four filed a complaint against the law enforcement officials, saying that they had been abused and humiliated while in custody.

The youngsters also had to pay fines amounting to more than $200 for their mischief. Emilio Alfaro, a representative of Nuevo Leon state's branch of the Human Rights Commission, says that the kids were also kicked and slapped by the policemen, before being released on Tuesday. He adds that acts of vandalism are not enough reason to subject the four teenagers to such behavior.

Following the complaint, the police department in Guadalupe has announced that several officers have been suspended, and that the case is currently under investigation. However, there is little chance of something to come of it, observers note. The Mexican police is famous for its poor handling of cases such as this, as the officers “cover” each other. In the end, most likely, the teens will be charged with false accusations.

Graffiti is one of the most artistic forms of expression, widely adopted in large urban centers, mostly by teens and young adults. Some walls, which have been covered with spray paint, now constitute genuine touristic attractions, such as New York City's Graffiti Hall of Fame, which features the most impressive drawings town artists designed.

Also, subway trains in all major cities are adorned with colors. Many a graffiti artists say that one of the main reasons they do what they do is to change the aspect of cities, to make them more colorful. Unfortunately, at this point policemen worldwide still hold graffiti as a form of vandalism, and arrest and fine those caught doing it.