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Syrian schoolboy no longer feels safe after being racially assaulted

A YOUNG Syrian refugee who was attacked by a peer has said that he no longer feels safe at school after a second video of his sister being assaulted emerged.

The video of his sister wearing a hijab being pushed down and shoved by a group, also at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, was shared online on Wednesday. The family lawyer said the incident happened on Tuesday morning.

West Yorkshire Police said they have been made aware of the second video and are looking for witnesses.

A 16-year-old has been charged with racially aggravated assault after the initial video of the incident went viral. The footage shows him dragging and pouring water down the boy’s mouth, whose arm is already in a cast.

The victim fled Syria with his family two years ago and said he now feels unsafe attending school following the incident in October.

He said: “I woke up at night and just started crying about this problem. They think I’m different from them.

“I don’t feel safe at school. Sometimes I say to my dad: ‘I don't want to go to school any more.’ I was just crying and I didn’t do nothing because I respect the school rules.”

A Facebook account belonging to the perpetrator has multiple posts shared from the page of former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.

The 16-year-old has accepted responsibility for his actions but denied bullying the younger boy.

“The incident was isolated and came about from an altercation between us earlier that day. The incident was not racial as up to that time we had been on good terms,” he said.

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