Home Secretary Sajid Javid reveals he was victim of racist attack just like teen refugee Jamal
Mr Javid was beaten to the ground when he was at school by a racist bully
SAJID Javid has revealed he was beaten up by racist thugs as a schoolboy as he let rip at bullies who targeted a young Syrian refugee.
The Home Secretary said the video of the horrifying attack on 15-year-old Jamal brought “memories flooding back” about “a very similar” incident after he started comprehensive school in Bristol.
Opening up for the first time about his own experience of racism nearly 40 years ago, he revealed he had been “punched to the ground” at school - “because I was Asian”.
Mr Javid, the son of a Pakistani immigrant, told the BBC that the ‘waterboarding’ of the 15-year-old left him “absolutely outraged” and said he had written to Jamal inviting him and his family for a “cup of tea”.
Mr Javid fumed: “How can this kind of thing still be going on?”
He added: "I saw the video like anyone else and part of me I was clearly absolutely outraged and, to be frank, it reminded of an incident I had myself when I was 11 at school.
“That’s the immediate memories that came back to me and I hated it and I thought how that young boy must feel.”
Mr Javid is one of five children of Pakistani immigrants who arrived in the UK in the 1960s.
The video of Jamal was shot in a school playing field and sparked a public outcry when it was released last week.
It shows Jamal headbutted and dragged to the ground by his neck.
His 16-year-old attacker then pours water over his face while threatening to “drown him” as other pupils cheer.
An online fundraising campaign has already raised more than £50,000.
Jamal’s sister has also been bullied at the same school to the point that she has tried to take her own life.
The family fled Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad and their war-ravaged home in Homs in 2010.
They were resettled in the UK in 2016 after first escaping to Lebanon.
Jamal, who cannot be named in full, said the constant bullying at his school in the UK had left him too scared to even visit the local shop.
His parents’ solicitor have criticised the school for failing to intervene before now. West Yorkshire police said the 16 year-old would appear at a Youth Court in “due course”.
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