Days after eight teenage boys were arrested in connection with a bullying incident caught on camera, police are looking into the provenance of a second video of a boy being harassed by his classmates — purportedly at the same school — that recently appeared online.
The video, which first appeared on a Facebook group where students can post videos and photos anonymously, shows a group of apparently teenage boys hoisting another boy onto a table at the front of a classroom by the legs. Another boy grabs the teen by the head while others elbow and punch him in the back.
According to the post accompanying the video, the incident took place at the Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School, the same secondary school that drew negative attention last week after video of a group of teenagers pinning down a screaming boy, pulling down his pants, and spanking him went viral.
Eight students aged 17 to 19 were arrested on suspicion of common assault after that video surfaced. They were all released on bail and are required to report back to the police station in late February. The school, however, raised eyebrows when it insisted in a statement that the incident “did not involve any elements of bullying,” and merely depicted “playing” that got out of hand — a stance that was quickly refuted by students of the school, who said bullying was commonplace there.
That seemingly dismissive response came under fire from the poster of the second video, who claimed to be a student at the school, and said that the video captured just one of the “countless bullying incidents” that take place there on a regular basis.
“The school doesn’t care and lets students do whatever they want,” the user wrote in the post, adding that the students featured in the video often cause trouble.
The student added: “I have been abused before as well. I hope to use this platform to fight for my own rights and point out the management issue of the school.”
Police told Coconuts HK that they are investigating the second video and have been in touch with the “relevant schools,” but had not yet confirmed that the new video was taken in the same school as last week’s.
The school had not responded to a request for comment from Coconuts HK as of press time.
However, incidents of bullying are not unique to Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School. A report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) based on a 2015 survey found that, out of the 53 countries and territories surveyed, Hong Kong had the highest reported levels of both verbal and physical bullying, with nearly a third of students reporting being bullied in some fashion “at least a few times a month.”
