Syrian refugee attacked at Huddersfield school asks people not to threaten alleged bully

Teenager was thrown to floor and had water sprayed in face in video that has gone viral

A Syrian teenage refugee who was filmed being attacked at school in a video that went viral has pleaded for people not to seek revenge on the alleged bully.

The youngster – who has been identified only as Jamal – called for calm as thousands of online threats continued to be made against his aggressor.

Footage of the assault at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield went viral on Tuesday. In it, the 15-year-old is thrown to the floor by another boy and has water sprayed in his face.

Now, after attending a protest at the school, Jamal said: “I am very concerned about the violent comments going out on social media about the bully. I don’t want anything terrible to happen to him at all. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone.”

The alleged attacker is reported to have left the country, while police have been posted at his family’s home for protection.

Tasnime Akunjee, a solicitor representing the Syrian family, said Jamal and his parents had been alarmed by the threats.

He said: “He is concerned about the fact that no other children are harmed – including the bullies.

“It is a shocking video. But some people are calling for the bully to be bullied and that is certainly not what this boy or any of his family want. He just wishes this never happened and that none of the bullying ever took place. This is the mature attitude with which he has conducted himself.”

The video of that incident, which occurred on 25 October, has attracted widespread condemnation.

A second clip showing Jamal’s 14-year-old sister being pushed to the floor has also emerged this week.

Local councillors, MPs and even Theresa May have spoken out against the bullying. An online fund set up to support the family has raised almost £150,000. The family have said they will use the money to relocate.

Taking a moment away from Brexit to reflect on what many may see as an incident that should have been dealt with by the school and local police, Mrs May said: “I thought they were absolutely terrible pictures to see what young Jamal went through and obviously our thoughts are with him.”

Speaking while attending the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, she added: “If you look at what happened, the real spirit of the British people came in the response.”

The far-right campaigner activist Tommy Robinson has claimed Jamal had previously attacked two schoolgirls.

But the founder of the English Defence League has been told he will face legal action after reposting a screenshot of a message from a mother claiming the youngster had bullied her daughter.

The mother later posted a message on Robinson’s page denying it was Jamal who had attacked her daughter.

Meanwhile, as the story continued to spread, local councillor Bernard McGuin revealed the teenager wrote to authorities in a desperate plea for help three weeks before the filmed attack.

Cllr McGuin said Jamal emailed him listing “incidents and allegations” at the school.

In the email entitled “complaint: please help me”, the youngster said he had been subjected to bullying since he joined the school two years ago in year 9.

On Thursday about 30 protesters took part in a demonstration outside the school organised by the Huddersfield Pakistani Community Alliance. Four of the group then had a meeting with the school’s headteacher, Trevor Bowen.

West Yorkshire Police said a 16-year-old boy had been interviewed in connection with the filmed incident and would be charged with assault. They are separately investigating the incident involving his sister.