Somerville teens are going feral.During a firecracker incident, one librarian remembered assuring patrons the sounds they were hearing from inside the library weren’t gunshots. “When your building is full of flammable paper objects, it can definitely stress you out. You’re like ’Oh, are we going to have a fire happen? What do we do?’”
The librarians detailed a year of increasing fights inside and outside the building involving an estimated 30 to 50 teens shouting, kicking and shoving, with some incidents forcing librarians to intervene physically. “It’s scary to be in that situation, and it’s scary for our patrons to think that might affect coming into this building and using it,” one said. Patrons trying to use the library have encountered rock throwing and people being hit with sticks. Patrons have complained that they have been hassled while trying to pass, and smoke has been blown in their faces.
Wow, shit is escalating there.