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BY VIVIEN CHAN
LONG hair, a bowl of hot soup, a challenge and a mysterious dead rat - these were the ingredients of a 'very violent' school brawl last week.
The spark, it seemed, was when someone splashed hot soup on a student councillor who was eating alone at a table in the school canteen.
He suspected the culprits were students who had been hauled up earlier for disciplinary problems. When he challenged the culprit to own up, the boys attacked him.
The incident happened last Tuesday at about 11.30am at an all-boys secondary school in the east. The victim, a Secondary 4 Express student, and eyewitnesses told Shin Min Daily News that the teachers had conducted a spot check on the students after morning assembly that day.
He said that some upper secondary students were found to have hair that was longer than allowed by the school rules.
These students were then referred to the school's discipline master.
Several student councillors, including the victim, were assisting the discipline master over the incident.
'You better own up'
The victim said he was in charge of preventing the errant students from leaving the school hall during the spot check.
During recess, which runs from from 11.20am to 11.50am, later that day, the councillor was eating alone in the canteen.
Suddenly,someone came from behind and threw a bowl of hot seaweed soup at his back.
The councillor, who was described as well-built, did not appear to be seriously hurt.
But mayhem followed, students who witnessed the incident told The New Paper yesterday.
A 16-year-old upper secondary student, who wanted to be known only as Tan, said: "(The councillor) stood up and shouted in Mandarin, 'Whoever dared to do this better own up'!"
Then he saw the students who were caught during the spot check sitting a few tables away.
Another upper secondary student, who did not want to be named, recalled that the boys were mocking him, and that he got angry and told them to move away.
It seemed the group of boys did not take too well to the student councillor's words.
Then, Tan said, someone mysteriously put a dead rat on one of the tables.
'I think one of the students killed it,' he added. One of them then allegedly punched the councillor. Eyewitnesses told Shin Min that the victim did not retaliate, but the other boys joined in the attack on him.
One student said: 'They were also throwing things like forks, spoons and plates - anything they could get theirhands on' at the boy.'
As the incident happened during recess, many students gathered around to watch while some tried to break it up.
Some witnesses said four students attacked the boy, but others said there were more than four. They said the alleged attackers were from the Secondary 4Normalstream.
Minutes later, the discipline master showed up at the canteen.
'He tried to stop the fight, but he could not,' said a student.
'Very violent'
It was only when other teachers arrived that they managed to break up the fight, which lasted about five minutes.
The half-hour recess break was cut short and all the students were told to go back to class.
Some students described the fight as 'very violent', but the victim did not appear to be seriously hurt.
Shin Min Daily News reported that he saw a doctor for his injuries, but did not have to take medical leave. Many parents, on hearing about the fight from their sons, called the Chinese newspapers to express their concerns.
The New Paper called the school several times yesterday but was repeatedly told that the principal was in a meeting.
Later, we were told that the principal was 'engaged on the phone'. Subsequent calls went unanswered.
A spokesman for the school earlier told Shin Min Daily News that the issue had been settled and the students involved have been counselled.
He added that the student councillor had gone for a medical check-up and made a police report.
The rest of the student councillors have also been briefed on how to better deal with similar incidents in future, he said.
Additional reporting by NaveenKanagalingam and Kay Tan, newsroom interns
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