LONDON — A video showing the bullying of a 15-year-old boy — described by British news media as a Syrian refugee — on a school playing field in England has attracted an outpouring of support this week.

The 25-second video, captured last month, shows a tall boy approaching the victim, about a head shorter, tackling him to the ground and dousing his face with water, shouting “I’ll drown you,” and an expletive. As other students stand by, some of them recording the scene, the victim is shown quietly standing up and walking away.

People on social media said the images recalled waterboarding, an interrogation technique simulating the experience of drowning.

The incident happened at lunchtime on Oct. 25 at a school in the town of Huddersfield, southwest of Leeds, in northern England.