“It was not a consensual fight,” Haruun Ali, a community advocate and candidate running for Edmonton’s Ward Papastew in the upcoming municipal election, told CTV News Edmonton in an interview. “It was a brutal assault that took place as the boy was trying to come home from school,” he added. Ali said he found the entire press conference difficult to watch. “He has broken the trust with the community,” Ali shared. “The way that (fixing trust) starts is not by going onto TV and saying that this is a ‘consensual schoolyard fight,’” he said. “The way to go here, is to sit down with Pazo’s mother or bring someone that speaks her language and actually have a conversation.
It was a brutal assault that took place as a boy was trying to come home from school, Haruun Ali told the crowd. Edmonton police has to retract that and they have to apologize to Pazo and Pazo s mother and his family.
At a news conference Thurday, McFee said some of the attackers come from racialized communities and had received threats. He said the incident was not a hate crime, calling out social media posts he said had inflamed the situation.
A sign at Saturday s rally calls for justice for Pazo, after his family says police mishandled the aftermath of a schoolyard attack that sent him to hospital. (Scott Neufeld/CBC)
An beating of a 14-year-old Black boy in a north Edmonton schoolyard has been determined not to be a hate crime, Police Chief Dale McFee said Thursday.
The April 16 attack outside Rosslyn School was caught on video that circulated widely in the community.
Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee updated the media on Thursday about the attack on a Black student outside Rosslyn School on April 16. (Edmonton Police Service)
The Grade 8 student, who CBC News is only identifying by the name Pazo, was swarmed by seven other boys who are seen punching and kicking him. Someone was heard calling him the N-word during the attack.
McFee said the slur was highly inappropriate but in itself did not constitute a hate crime.
McFee said some of the students come from racialized communities and have received threats. He called for calm and called out social media posts he said have inflamed the situation.