Rage over Video Featuring a Child Beating Up Another under Parental Instruction
A video of a child beating up another minor, who is a Syrian national according to some reports, went viral online, prompting the Ministry of Social Affairs and the judiciary to act and demand an investigation in the incident.
The video that was posted on YouTube shows Abbas, a Lebanese child who hails from the Bekaa, holding a stick and beating up another minor under the instruction of his parents.
"Come on Abbas, hit him and don't be afraid,” a parent tells their son in the video. Abbas then starts beating up the allegedly Syrian child with the thick stick with no mercy.
Abbas later slaps his fellow minor with his own bare hands and kicks him with his foot, to brutally resort to the use of the stick once again at the end of the video.
The battered child, meanwhile, is heard painfully sobbing without saying any word.
The shocking scene drew wide condemnation on social media platforms, with many users cursing Abbas' parents for inciting their son to beat up another.
Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi announced “taking the adequate measures” to deal with the video and those appearing in it.
Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas, meanwhile, told MTV that the “law cannot hold the young child responsible for his acts because he doesn't know what he is doing.”
But Derbas assured that Abbas' parents will be held accountable, calling also for “removing their guardianship duties of Abbas.”
Also, State Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud tasked the General Prosecutor of the Bekaa to probe the video, identify its source and uncover the details behind the attack.
In its account on Twitter, the Internal Security Forces slammed the incident as “as an attack on childhood,” assuring that the ISF is following up on the case.
Later in the evening, al-Jadeed television revealed that the father of Abbas has been identified as H.T.
But the parents of Abbas T. denied to the television network that they had incited their son to attack the other child.
"The person who encouraged him to attack the fellow minor was a teen who resides in the same neighborhood," they told al-Jadeed.
The same source had said earlier that security forces were questioning the Editor in Chief of YaSour website, where the video was posted, over the incident.
The Editor in Chief, meanwhile, assured that posting the footage was for "moral and human reasons."
S.D.B.
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