to wonder about bystanders ( eg during assault on school girl in Ashford)

[whatchaos]

to wonder about the ethics of being a bystander, and wonder what the bystanders were doing during the appalling assault in Ashford (Surrey) when a schoolgirl was beaten up, the awful video shows a grown woman encouraging primary aged kids to get involved...but there are any number of bystanders including a man in a car, the school principal (at the end) and any number of other school kids including much older looking boys. Wondering if anyone here would have tried to intervene to stop the fight or encouraged their children to intervene in cases like this?

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/girl-10-among-five-arrested-29158603

Having been a parent at this particular school for the last 10 years, it has made me incredibly sad to see how the teachers are being blamed for this.

Obviously the attack was horrific and the police have quite rightly arrested as many as they can get hold of. I am not prepared to discuss the various ethnicities involved, as I don't know any of the people involved personally but I DO know the staff. They care and are very professional.

The current Head has been there about 3 years and is relatively new to the area, unlike the previous Head who had started her teaching career there and stayed until retirement! The Head is a very calm and controlled man. The fact that he was able to calmly diffuse the situation, without shouting or escalating things, or getting involved physically, says a lot about his abilities as a Head teacher. The problem is that people want to see him coming in with fists flying. That would have finished his career and possibly resulted in awful injuries.

This took place, not outside the school gates, but further down the road, at least 15 minutes after school had ended. That particular spot is not visible from anywhere on the school site. Only the victim was a pupil, as far as I am aware. I just don't see what people expect from the school.

It's no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves- as well as everything else, society expects them to be vigilantes, with no thought to their own or their family 's safety. I wasn't aware that bouncer training was on the teacher training syllabus!

I wish all the keyboard warriors would sign up to the police or to teaching and put themselves out there in real life.

I encountered a racist incident during lockdown not long after the George Floyd murder. It was an altercation between two men which quickly turned into a racially motivated assault. I tried to intervene but the perpetrator became aggressive towards me and I became very scared so I backed off. I asked the security guard to phone the police and he said he already had. He didn’t get involved either. By the time the police arrived the perpetrator had ran off and the victim was half battered.

I feel ashamed that I didn’t do more to intervene but in the moment my flight or fight response kicked in and I couldn’t overcome my fear to go out there and help. I wasn’t the only one, there was about 5 us (two young men, one middle aged man and one older woman). We all watched this poor man get beaten up safely behind the shop window.

Well apparently an activist group turned up today so I think it's going to massively kick off.

I have now watched that video and cannot quite believe how those adults are encouraging the violence in fact treating it like a good lesson eg well done kick there... In the face again...

What utterly barbaric people have we got living among us.

Swat teams need to descend on them right now.
By that I mean social workers, psychologists for the children who need immediate removal from them.
Special councillors and educators.

Etc etc

We cannot have a two tier society.

One wonders why adults got involved or did nothing to stop it.....just asking the question

The woman in the video is also rolling out with disabilit insults.

Where is the video that shows the grown woman encouraging the attack? The video OP attached is about some kind of protest after the fight..

Google Ashford attack and its everywhere

I live 10 minutes away from where this happened.
Did make me laugh ironically at those that are saying they would have intervened. You clearly do not know the area is all I can say to that.

Flamingo clearl not how could most people who don't live near it.

Apparently after the attack the girl wasn't escorted back to school?

No, it’s nowhere. It’s just a policeman giving information. I think the actual footage has been removed in the media.

@Greenshake I'm talking about arresting people on travellers sites. As I said my police friend had told me how difficult it to arrest a traveller. You can't just go on the site with 3 or 4 officers. You need a lot of police as it will kick off big time. This not only costs a lot each time but there is a huge risk of someone getting hurt.

The current Head has been there about 3 years and is relatively new to the area, unlike the previous Head who had started her teaching career there and stayed until retirement! The Head is a very calm and controlled man. The fact that he was able to calmly diffuse the situation, without shouting or escalating things, or getting involved physically, says a lot about his abilities as a Head teacher. The problem is that people want to see him coming in with fists flying. That would have finished his career and possibly resulted in awful injuries.

Furthermore, if he'd been more dramatic in his intervention, quite apart from the risks to him it would have likely escalated the situation at the time putting many more in danger and brought more trouble to the school in the future, putting more of his students at risk.

@Cinecitta on Facebook Jody jovial gold digger has it on their fb page.
It is horrible to watch.

@Cinecitta I had not seen it till this pm I googled it and it is everywhere

Forever family looks like they went to the suspects houses today.
I think like poor George flloyd this is going to massively escalate. I wouldn't want to be police around there right now.

Re the head I also think perhaps that's a strategy to calm go in etc but why not barricade the girls and take them back to safety?

@AutumnDaysConkers I am married to a Police Officer. He has often gone with just a couple of colleagues when an arrest needs to be made, as going mob handed gives the impression that they are expecting trouble.

The video is all over Twitter. Go and search for thomas kynvett.

It's all over everywhere I just checked again. Ashford assault.

@Greenshake well clearly the officers we know have completely different experiences of dealing with travellers then.

We must do. I think it depends on so many factors including the individual who is getting arrested.

Totally agree with everything you said. I think people wanted to see him rushing in yelling and rugby tackling them which would have been totally the wrong way of dealing with it.

I'm hating this witch hunt against the staff members who broke up the attack. Someone high profile person on Twitter has said 'Don’t make this weird @ThomasKnyvett cause we will wait outside of your college grounds till every member of staff in this video is sacked. DO THE RIGHT THING BEFORE WE FORCE YOU TO.' But the attack lasted two minutes and took place 100 metres from the school. It's remarkable the staff got there so quickly! It's like people want someone in authority to blame, even when they're totally innocent.

On twitter someone has posted the distance from the school.

That school and those around need every resource under the sun thrown at them.

I agree.

I do not leave that near this school so do not know about the local area.

Clearly the incident is awful but it happened outside the school after the school day has ended , the suggestion therefore that the teachers are in someway to blame is bizarre.