School issues clarification after Manchester boy suspended for shouting ‘free Palestine’

A school in Manchester has clarified the circumstances around an incident which saw a boy suspended after he shouted “free Palestine” in class. It now claims the comment was directed towards an individual based on their ethnicity.

A letter apparently sent from the high school – Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury – to the child’s parents, was shared on Twitter on Saturday, with user Adnan Chowdhury branding the decision “disgusting and shocking”.

The message states that the pupil was excluded for half a day for committing “racist abuse”.

It read: “I realise this exclusion may well be upsetting for you and your family, but the decision to exclude [your son] has not been taken lightly. [He] has been excluded for racist abuse, during his technology lesson he shouted out ‘free Palestine’.

It continued: “You have a duty to ensure that your child is not present in a public place in school hours during the exclusion, unless there is reasonable justification for this. I must warn you that you may receive a penalty notice from the local authority if your child is present in a public place during school hours on the specified date.”

Choudry wrote in response that he was “ashamed” to have gone to the school himself.

The school did not respond to indy100’s request for comment. But, in a statement issued to parents on Sunday evening, as reported by the Manchester Evening News, Parrs Wood High School said the boy was excluded because the remark was made towards a “member of the school community based on their ethnicity”.

The email sent to parents is reported to have said: “Parrs Wood High School is a proud comprehensive and diverse community school.

“We have students from a wide variety of backgrounds, which is what makes our school so special.

“You may have seen comments on social media pertaining to a student exclusion last week.

“The school would like clarify some key points:

“- The school did not, and would not, issue a Fixed Term Exclusion for stating ‘Free Palestine’

“- The school did issue a half day Fix Term Exclusions where the phrase ‘Free Palestine’ was directed at a member of our school community based on their ethnicity

“- The school is concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East (the Gaza Strip, Israel and the West Bank) and will be working hard to support all of our students who are affected by this.”

Before the clarification had been issued, the school’s decision was met with fierce criticism by scores of fellow Twitter users:

Some had questioned the full context of the incident:

Others called the letter’s veracity into question by pointing out that it was dated a day after the alleged suspension was put in place:

The surfacing of the letter online comes as thousands of people protested across the UK in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among the speakers at a heated rally in held in London on Saturday as the conflict with Israel continues.

Demonstrators chanted “free Palestine”, and held banners calling for an end to the bombing of the territory by Israeli forces.

Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes after a week of sustained conflict in the region.

Since Monday night, Palestinian militant group Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, whose military responded by barraging the Gaza Strip with tank fire and air strikes.

At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted.

The demonstration in London was organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop The War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain.

A spokesperson for the organisers called on the UK Government to take “immediate action”, saying it is “complicit” as long as it “continues to offer Israel military, diplomatic and financial support.”

This article was amended on May 20 2021 as a result of further information becoming available. The headline was changed from “Manchester boy suspended from school for ‘racist abuse’ after shouting ‘free Palestine’,” after the school told parents the boy had been excluded because the comment was aimed at an individual.  The body of the article has also been updated to reflect this.