Riot Victim Says He Feels Sorry For His Attackers

A victim of this week’s riots across London and its neighborhoods speaks out about his sorrow surrounding his attackers in a mugging that left him with a partially reconstructed jaw.

“It was really sad because amongst them there were children,” Mohammad Asyraf Haziq said in this interview with ITN News.

LONDON (AP) — A Malaysian student attacked during London’s riots offered an account of his assault, saying he was shocked as he watched the videotape of thugs rifling through his belongings while he bled on a sidewalk.

Mohammad Asyraf Haziq gave a halting news conference on Thursday, telling reporters he was stunned that some of his attackers “were children.”

The video that recorded Haziq‘s attack on Monday has become synonymous with London’s riots. It has gone viral — a chilling example of the unrest that raged for four days.

The sight of youths stealing from a bleeding man has caused shock — even leading Prime Minister David Cameron to describe it as a sign of a deeper societal malaise in Britain.

Haziq says he intends to stay in Britain to finish his studies.