Man attacks children outside school over broken bottle

A parent allegedly attacked several secondary school students, including a child with autism, for throwing a glass bottle that hit his car’s tyre in Larnaca, police said on Tuesday.

Two students were mildly injured from pieces of the glass bottle that the 52-year-old man threw on the ground near them outside a school in Larnaca, Larnaca police spokesman Charis Hadjiyiasemi told the Cyprus News Agency.

Police were notified about the incident at around 1.15pm by an eye witness. The officer said that a class of students were outside the school because they did not have a lesson during the last period.

Then, a child, either accidentally or while playing, kicked a glass bottle which ended up on the tyre of a car that belonged to the 52-year-old who was waiting to pick up his son.

The Larnaca resident reportedly then got angry, got out of his car and picked up the glass bottle which he threw on the road, resulting in some pieces flying off and hitting two students. One of them was slightly hurt on the wrist and the other on the leg, Hadjiyiasemi said.

The man then grabbed a student by the neck, possibly because he thought he was the one who kicked the glass bottle, the officer said. He continued trying to assault other children, one of whom with autism, whose assistant intervened.

When officers arrived at the scene, they gave the necessary documents to the parents of the two injured children and instructed them to go to the hospital for examinations. They also asked the 52-year-old man to visit the police station and give a statement.

The assistant of the child with disability also gave a verbal statement about the incident.