Residents of Crewe in northern England have accused a school and the local police force of covering up violent attacks by Slovakian pupils in the school, including children being thrown down flights of stairs and threatened with rape. The headmaster has allegedly responded by threatening any British pupils who speak out with exclusion, while the police have played down the incident, leaving the town in uproar.

Yesterday afternoon Crewe Police put out a statement on Facebook regarding an incident at William Stanier Community school in Crewe which took place yesterday. The police described the incident as “an altercation between youths involving a current pupil and two former pupils,” and explained: “A teacher intervened and in the process received a minor injury for which he did not receive hospital treatment. Police are working with the school in relation to the assault.”

The force added: “Later that evening police received a call in relation to a group of teenagers gathering in the area of Richard Street. Officers attended the scene and arrested an 18 year old male for possession of a plank of wood. It is suspected these incidents are linked.”

However, the statement was met with outrage in the comments, as local people demanded to know why the police were making light of events that they say were extremely serious.

Pagan Roberta Evanson said: “One girl had her fringe ripped out of her head, Slovakian kids jumping up on tables and telling British kids to bow down to them, my little cousin had to be locked in a class room for his own safety. I think I would rather believe the SAME story I have heard from the students themselves than people who would rather cover it up because non British people were involved!”

She added: “And why aren’t Cheshire police doing anything about the Slovakian kids threatening to rape the school girls?”, imploring the police: “Don’t make light of this, it’s a very serious matter. The fact that this led to a large feuding group of at least 40 people down Richard street afterwards just says how severe it was at the school.”

@SWS_School I am appalled to hear about the total mayhem that seems to have taken place at school today. How is my child meant to feel safe — Charis Platt (@CharisPlatt) February 3, 2016

Fellow Crewe resident Katie Hollinshead, who has a younger brother at the school commented: “what an absolute joke. This post is just ridiculing all of the poor kids that were injured in this so called “minor incident” and all the parents.

“So many children came home terrified and reported knives/blades being used, injuries like hair being pulled out after being dragged around by it and teachers couldn’t control this – locking people in/out of the buildings/classrooms.

“Genuinely insulted that the school and the police think they can just play it down when there are parents looking after terrified kids at home today – scared of somewhere that has a duty of care to protect them.”

Her mother, Catherine, confirmed to Breitbart London that the school was in complete chaos. She says her son came home reporting that “girls were being dragged around by their hair, two girls had hair ripped out. Other children were thrown down three flights of stairs, one of whom suffered a broken arm. A teacher was headbutted.

“The Slovakian boys threatened to rape the girls. Threats were put on the girls toilet wall saying ‘English will die’.

“Apparently the Slovakian children stood on tables telling the English children to bow down to them. It was chaos, my son said, they didn’t know what to do.”

She added: “My son said this has been building up for weeks. They get away with everything like playing music loud on their phones in lessons. My son said there were five separate fights yesterday all at the same time (planned I think); they had nowhere to run and the teachers didn’t help.”

Others have criticised the police directly for shying away from reporting the incident accurately, due to fears of being labelled racist. Some accused the force of bringing discredit to the Police in general, considering the large number of witnesses to the incident within the community.

Brandon Waterton asked: “If it’s just a minor incident then why does there need to be 4/5 police cars outside the school?”

While Matt Beardsmore said: “I hope you realise that both incidents will have had a good number of witnesses and making up a false story to put the community at ease will not only discredit you but it will discredit the entire police force in the country. I understand trying to prevent potential racial hatred towards the people involved but you are also allowing racial hate attacks to be ok when it’s the English people receiving it.”

His comment was fully supported by a local resident named Zoe, who added: “Why should it [the report] be dulled down because it’s the English getting attacked? That’s what’s outraged me. If we went to their country and did that to their children we’d be strung up. I take people as I find them whatever race they are. But this is bang out of order!”

@David_Cameron While ur okay tryin to help the syrians why dont u help ur own ppl an attack happened @ crewe HS pic.twitter.com/bOyv7HfbjA — Kevina (@Kevina_xox) February 4, 2016

Speaking to Breitbart London, local resident Edward Sumner said the town had changed beyond recognition over the last decade as thousands of Eastern European migrants have taken up residents.

“Integration is a huge problem, we see now that they don’t try and integrate,” he said. Many have not bothered to learn English; instead Polish language signs have been installed in the area.

“Rape threats and violence is now happening in schools in Crewe, it’s now very clear to see. Yet we see a police service refusing to accurately report on it due to obvious fears of being called racist.

“I can see relations in the area between people in the area deteriorating, as we already see threats being made on the comments of that statement. I can see this carrying on until the police force in Crewe get a real grip on the situation.”

Meanwhile Mrs Hollinshead has called for the school to apologise to parents for their handling of the situation, saying “I would like the school to not tell lies and be honest about what happened! I also feel the children and parents deserve an apology for how it was handled.

“The headmaster Mr Fraser has spoken to the children that went in today and basically threatened them, he said that all that’s been said and witnessed is lies and they (our children) are racists (my son is disgusted with being called that as he certainly isn’t a racist) and if they are heard talking about what happened they will be excluded from school.”

In a separate incident this afternoon, police were called to the Nag’s Head pub in Crewe following a “riot” which is believed to have been due to racial tensions in the area. A source in the town told Breitbart London that bar staff had confirmed the fight broke out “because of the events that happened at the school yesterday”

Sgt Angela Egerton of Crewe Police said: “We are aware of rumours circulating on social media of large scale disorder at the school and later on in the town. I’d like to reassure the community that this simply is not correct. There have also been no threats made to young people and we are working with the school to address any concerns.

“Police will continue with high visibility patrols at the schools to provide reassurance.”

In a letter sent home to parents, Sir William Starnier school commented:

“During the lunchtime break yesterday, an altercation involving six pupils took place in the school playground. Staff responded quickly and effectively to manage the situation. Our school has a zero-tolerance approach to any behaviour that does not meet the high standards we expect, and we acted swiftly to exclude those involved, pending a full investigation.

“The safety and wellbeing of all students and staff, in and out of school, is always our utmost priority. As such, the decision was taken to involve the police as a precautionary measure. School then continued as normal for the rest of the afternoon and is open as usual today.

“We have spoken to all students and staff at the Academy to reassure them, clarify what happened and reiterate our commitment to ensuring the school is always a safe and happy place to be. Meetings are also taking place with any families who have any remaining concerns.

“As the police have confirmed, rumours on social media of large-scale disorder are simply not true.

“We are a responsible school at the heart of our local community and we will always promote the importance of tolerance and community cohesion.”