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London school threatened with arson, may close after barring Palestinian flag pin

British primary school may be forced to close in-person studies following threats.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Barclay, a primary school in Leyton East London announced it may have to close its doors and resort to online learning because of racial slurs and arson threats arising from a student asked to remove a Palestinian flag pin.

Barclay is run by the Lion Academy Trust which in a letter decried the escalating “racial slurs” and threats which had been escalating since the Christmas holiday.

The harassment began with “an anonymous caller making a series of racial slurs” and “a further threat to commit criminal damage (arson) against the school and to individual staff.”

The school said that if the safety of children and the staff can’t be assured, it would revert to online learning “with limited notice” and “for as long as we believe it is necessary.”

The harassment seemed to have begun with an incident involving an 8-year old who hadn’t been to school since November when he refused to remove a Palestinian flag pin from his coat when asked to by school administrators.

Barclay has a policy of not allowing expressions of a political nature, but in response, the child’s parents said that his mother was from Gaza and had lost family in the recent war with Israel.

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The executive head teacher said that although the boy was reminded of the rules and told to remove the flag pin, he was not suspended for the infraction, despite what had been suggested.

In a letter, the head teacher wrote that it was “disheartening to see how readily unproven allegations” were being believed and spread.

The head teacher continued, “No child has been suspended or excluded by the school through issues arising with the uniform policy, and to suggest otherwise is untrue.”

Following the incident with the 8-year old boy and the Palestinian flag pin, demonstrations were held involving 150 protesters demanding that the boy be allowed to return to school, even though the school denied suspending him in the first place.

In a statement on January 19, Barclay school said it was currently navigating “a route back to business as usual whereby our pupils, families and staff are all able to focus on teaching and learning.”