Four students at school in Spain stand accused of assaulting classmate with cerebral palsy

The juvenile prosecutor's office in Santander, in the Cantabria region of Spain, has opened proceedings against four high school students from the Torres Quevedo secondary school who allegedly assaulted a classmate with cerebral palsy. The boy's mother reported the case to the police after seeing the boy watch recordings of the aggression on his own phone. The case has caused a stir in governmental and educational bodies.

The victim's mother spoke about the incident during her appearance on 'El Program de Ana Rosa'. She expressed the anger and upset she felt when she saw the videos, which show her son, who moves around with the help of a wheelchair, getting slapped and beaten by four boys. "I am not doing this with the intention of hurting anyone - not teachers, nor anyone personally - but I do think that we should give visibility to such incidents," she said.

Both the prosecutor's office and the regional ministry of education have opened proceedings, with the former appointed in charge of the case. However, the mother has stated that all of the actions have not had the desired effect, as her son continues to go to the same classroom, with the students who were involved in the aggression.

Councillor of education Sergio Silva has said that the precautionary measures taken by the regional ministry and the school have led to the suspension of the aggressors for five days, which is "the maximum period allowed by law" - a period which has now ended.

"I am going to do everything in my power to resolve this matter as soon as possible," said Silva. "We have to assess all the issues to attend to the victim, offering him all our support and protection," he added.

The association Tolerancia 0 al Bullying, which is waiting to talk to the family to offer them psychological and legal support, described the case as "very serious" and highlighted that this is a common incidence in schools in Cantabria, where between 10% and 15% of "children co-exist with their aggressors".

The opposition party in Cantabria, the left-wing PSOE, denounced the negligence and lack of proper action of the regional government "in the face of bullying of which it is aware". PSOE reproached the regional ministry of education for leaving the aggressors in the same classroom as the victim. In addition, the party considers that offering the victim to change classrooms or schools would be unacceptable, as the weight falls on the affected once again.