Shocking footage of violent fights in and around a Fife school has been slammed as “appalling”.
An Instagram page, titled bbhsfights4u, featured savage mobile phone footage of school children punching and kicking lumps out of each other apparently in and around Bell Baxter High School in Cupar.
At least eight pre-recorded videos, all uploaded on February 13 at a time when pupils were home schooling during lockdown, included one brutal clip where a bystander is heard to shout: “Oh sh*t he’s bleeding!”
The video, filmed in an outside playground area, and viewed at least 400 times, showed two teenage boys throwing punches at each other, wrestling to the ground and throwing each other against walls as a group of other boys, laughing and shouting, gathered round to watch.
In a second vicious clip, filmed in a bus stance area, a boy shouted ‘Get off. Get away’ with increasing desperation as he was punched by another boy and as a bystander filmed. This had been ‘liked’ 11 times.
Another brutal 43 second video clip, viewed more than 340 times, featuring two girls fighting, hair pulling and throwing punches saw a number of pupils standing around shouting encouragement towards the fight as another girl tried to break the fight up.
In another video where two girls were punching and kicking, surrounded by a cheering mob, a staff member is heard intervening before filming cuts off.
The publicly accessible social media page also featured a brutal fight close to the Howe of Fife Rugby pitches at Duffus Park where two boys, including one exposing his midriff during the melee, punched each other brutally as other teenagers milled about filming on their phones while eating takeaway lunches.
‘Talk of teenagers’
Stunned parents told The Courier the Instagram page has been “the talk of teenagers” for months.
However, despite many people being aware, and despite one parent saying she had raised concerns with school staff and Instagram before the summer, the page was still active and viewable as Fife pupils prepare to return to school on August 18 after the summer break.
The bbhsfights4u page, which has now been deleted by Instagram after being highlighted to them by The Courier, had 48 followers with postings viewed hundreds of times.
Appalling
When the Instagram page was brought to the attention of Fife Council by The Courier, the local authority’s Head of Education and Children’s Services Shelagh McLean said in a statement: “This type of behaviour is appalling.
“Any pupils who are identified as fighting, or filming this kind of behaviour would be dealt with appropriately by either the police or the school depending on where and when it was.
“I urge anyone who experiences any type of violent behaviour to report this to the police immediately.”
The Courier also contacted Instagram, which is owned by social media giant Facebook.
A Facebook company spokesperson said: “We do not allow content that directly encourages violence or abuse, and we’ve removed the account brought to our attention.”
Facebook would not comment further.
However, its community guidelines make it clear that bullying or harassment will not be tolerated.
It takes violent and graphic images “incredibly seriously, and remove images or videos when they celebrate or glorify violence or the suffering of others”.
The company says it uses a combination of people and technology to find and remove harmful content. Its safety and security team consists of 35,000 people.
If anyone sees or receives anything which makes them feel uncomfortable, or which violates their guidelines, they can report it via the company’s in-app tools.
Facebook says it also works closely with the police when they believe there’s a risk of physical harm or a threat to people’s safety.
Teaching union EIS
Fife EIS publicity officer David Farmer would not comment on this specific footage.
However, he said he was aware of similar videos circulating in other schools.
While the vast majority of pupils in Fife schools are “perfectly decent, normal, well behaved kids” and that social media, at the heart of young peoples’ lives, was often a force for good, there was also a darker side of social media which can drive bullying.
From an EIS perspective, behaviour management had been a major issue in schools for a number of years.
While societal issues had been identified as being responsible for a rise in behavioural problems, teachers – and pupils – deserved to work in a safe environment where behavioural issues were dealt with consistently.
Adding that young people needed to be educated not to view or share such material, he said: “I’m sure some of the kids – particularly teenagers – if you asked them if they are in favour of some kind of more control of what can be seen on social media and quicker action by social media companies, I’m sure they’d support that.”
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