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06th Apr 2016

This footage of a cruel man taunting a refugee child will break your heart

Nooruddean Choudry

How can someone be so cruel?

Far too many people love to stigmatise refugees, dehumanising them as opportunistic migrants or worse, a threat to our way of life. This ignores the fact that they are loathed to leave their homes and communities, but have little option when faced with tyranny and persecution.

Children in particular are the biggest victims. So many young kids have seen things and experienced hardships that no child should have to go through. The very least anyone can do is show a little kindness and compassion to those who have escaped untold horrors.

Sadly, there are very cruel people around, as is evident in this horrible footage. It shows a young Syrian child sitting in a play area, and a man suddenly shouting at him that ‘The jets are coming!” to frighten him.

Goodness knows what the young child has been through for him to react like he does. He panics and tries to run away and escape, whilst the horrible adult laughs as his fearful reaction.

The footage was recorded in Istanbul, and the man is said to be Turkish, but Turkish people responding to the video have stressed that he is speaking Arabic in a foreign accent.

Wherever he’s from, let’s hope karma exists.