Ten arrested, five charged for beating Kurdish boy in London
LONDON, England (Kurdistan24) - Among the 20 people engaged in attacking a teenage Kurdish boy in London for hate crime, ten are arrested and 5 are charged.
Four of them were charged with violent disorder, and the fifth with violent disorder and causing racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.
A Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker in London who had arrived at the country only a few months ago was waiting at a bus stop at South London when he was approached by a group of people and was asked where he was from.
Upon responding, he was chased and finally caught and beaten in what police described as a "brutal" attack and suspected hate crime.
The boy whose identity is not revealed by the police is reported to be in a serious but stable condition at a hospital.
The investigating police officer, Detective Sgt. Kris Blamires, said the teenager had sustained “serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers.”
“A number of people came to the aid of the victim as he lay unconscious and injured following the assault,” he added.
Commentators are concerned that with finalizing Brexit, a wave of nationalistic sentiments is taking over the country.
Others say they are absolutely appalled by the event which was caused by the dominance of right-wing politics across the Western world.
Gavin Barwell, a minister for housing in the Conservative government and a member of Parliament for Croydon said the attackers were "scums."
“I think most people in Croydon will be as appalled as I am that what appears to have happened is a young man who came to this country seeking sanctuary has apparently been targeted because of his ethnic background,” he said to the BBC.
“It’s an appalling crime, and I hope the people responsible are caught quickly and receive the full force of British justice,” he added.
Activists are saying that hate crimes are on the rise and the government is not doing enough to stop them.