The 16-year-old boy slammed in the UK for attacking a youngster from Syria has told the right-wing activist Tommy Robinson in the interview for the ITV that he was "scared for my life, scared for my family's life". The teenager, whose identity should be kept secret from the public under British law, said that his address had been made public and people had started turning up at his house in cars.
"We went into hiding because we've had all these threats, rape threats, death threats”, he opened up about his fears.
He has also denied in a statement for The Sun Online that he bullied the younger boy. He stated the brawl caught on the video was an isolated incident and a result of an altercation between them.
"The incident was not racial as up to that time we had been on good terms”, he said.
The teenager from Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, has made headlines in Britain after a clip with him beating a 15-year-old fellow student from a Syrian refugee family ended up online. In the video, the alleged bully is seen dragging the student, whose arm is in a cast, to the ground by his neck, squirting water at him. The actions were publicly condemned by ordinary netizens and prominent politicians.
Besides, footage was later showed two female students at the same school who assaulted another schoolgirl wearing a pink headscarf. The attacked youngster turned out to be the sister of the Syrian refugee schoolboy. The clip was slammed as racist online and triggered a new outcry.
The police have launched an investigation, while a GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the bullied youngster and gathered over $161,000.
Following these events, dozens of protesters gathered outside the school in support of the siblings. The attacked boy was reportedly at the protest and thanked those attending for their support. A number of parents whose children attend Almondbury were reportedly unhappy about the gathering, saying it was "frightening" and "getting out of hand”.