Boy, 13, arrested over ‘school wars’ posts telling children to ‘be violent’

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested over the ‘school wars’ trend which encouraged children across the UK to fight each other.

The teenager, from Sheffield, was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications, encouraging or assisting crime, and an alleged public order offence.

Viral Tiktok posts, first reported by Metro, saw pupils being told to bring compasses and combs to fight each other at organised locations.

The trend, which originated in Hackney, London, soon spread outside of the capital to the rest of the UK.

Parents were urged to pick up their children from the school gates, as teenagers were told to ‘jug and bang’ pupils from different schools depending on whether they were on Team Blue or Team Red.

Inspector Katie Hammond said: ‘We know how worried parents, families, staff and pupils have been since these social media posts started appearing here in South Yorkshire and we have provided support and reassurance to our local schools and communities through a high-visibility presence and increased patrols.

‘Behind the scenes we have also been actively monitoring social media and carrying out intelligence checks, and doing all we can to track down the accounts responsible and shut them down.

‘We are taking this matter seriously and are doing everything in our power to deal with it swiftly and robustly.

‘I believe the overwhelming majority of children here in South Yorkshire understand this trend is reckless and irresponsible, and not at all reflective of the real, positive relationships which exist between our educational establishments, young people and communities.’

It is the third confirmed arrest in connection with the trend, with a man in his 20s and a 15-year-old boy arrested in London.

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