Eight people have been arrested over a violent attack and suspected hate crime on a teenage asylum seeker in south London on Friday night, police say.
On Sunday, police arrested a 23-year-old man, a 26-year-old man, and a 17-year-old girl, on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
On Saturday, five other people aged between 20 and 24 were arrested on the same charges and remain in police custody.
A 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian boy was left with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain after her was attacked and repeatedly kicked in the head by a large group attackers outside The Goat pub on Shrublands Avenue in Croydon at around 23.40 on Friday night.
Witnesses said as many as 20 people were involved in the beating, and said he was left for dead by his attackers.
Detective Inspector Gary Castle described the incident:
“We now know that a large number of people, approximately 20, were involved in the attack on the victim.
“A number of them approached the victim as he waited at a bus stop with two friends outside The Goat public house in the Shrublands.
“It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack.
“He sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers.
“A number of people came to the aid of the victim as he lay unconscious and injured following the assault.
“Two friends of the victim managed to escape the attackers and suffered only minor injuries. There are no other reported injuries.”
