Two African brothers who recently moved to the United States were attacked in school on Friday, NBC New York reports.
The boys, who are in sixth and eighth grade, were hospitalized after being severely injured by people who called them "Ebola," according to the African Advisory Council, a group that advocates for Africans in the Bronx. The boys were attacked at I.S. 318 in the borough's Tremont neighborhood.
The boys emigrated to the United Stated about a month ago, the father of the boys, Ousmane Drame, told NY1. He said he rushed to their school when he learned of the beating.
"They call me from the school tell me come, they're beating your children... He was crying, laying on the floor, more than 10 children on top of him, beating him," Drame told the station.
The attacks occurred the day after a doctor who contracted Ebola was admitted to a New York hospital. Senegal is one of several West African countries where the deadly disease has recently appeared, but no new cases of it have been reported since August.
Although Senegal was recently declared free of Ebola, the group said the stigma of the disease remains.
In a statement posted to its Facebook page, the African Advisory Council demanded "an end to... ongoing stigmatization and violence against Africans." The group said:
We demand for corrective measures that will stop bullying and violence against our children while in school and in the community. As citizens of this country and New York State, we ask for the equal protection guarantee under the law.
A spokesperson for the African Advisory Council says the school has taken disciplinary action.
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