A 19-year-old man who was brutally beaten and stripped on camera was ambushed by a group of males after arranging to meet a girl, the Manchester Evening News understands.
Over the weekend, a video circulated on social media showing the savage assault, which was carried out on the footpath behind the Tesco Oldham Chadderton Superstore. In the disturbing clip, blood can be seen pouring from the victim's face as he is pinned down and repeatedly hit and kicked whilst screaming on the ground.
Three people have been arrested since the attack on June 21 and since the publication of the video, there have also been a string of incidents which Greater Manchester Police (GMP) say were 'in retaliation', including the windows of a house being smashed in Hurst Street - just yards away from the original assault.
READ MORE : Pleas for 'calm' as hundreds gather in public following disturbing assault video showing boy screaming
It is understood one line of enquiry being considered by the police is that the teenager may have been the victim of a 'set up'. Officers fear there may be more 'vigilante mob' episodes following the attack and the other incidents that followed, and have stepped up patrols in the area.
Monira Khatun Hussain, who legally represents the victim, told the M.E.N that he only moved to the country from Bangladesh seven months ago after obtaining a visa to study at the University of Huddersfield. "He is a young lad who has no friends and no support network," she said.
Calling the victim a 'very gentle boy', Monira went on to say that he was tricked into going to the area behind Tesco before he was set upon by the attackers.
"Essentially he tried to make a friend. He never met anybody," she said.
"His sole intention was to make a friend. He hadn't done anything wrong, he hadn't hurt anybody. Even if he had, you don't behave in that manner."
The victim miraculously did not suffer any broken bones in the assault and a CT scan is said to have come back clear. However, he has been complaining of blurred vision and severe headaches since the incident.
Monira added: "He's very frightened, he doesn't look eye to eye with people. He doesn't want to be around other males.
"From what he says, he wanted to make a friend, she made the initial contact and told him to go to Tesco, she's not there and instead, all these people are waiting for him.
"When he walked up the stairs, he saw boys on each side. If he thought there was going to be any harm he'd have run off.
"He said five continuously beat him but 11 or 12 were involved in some way or another. He could have died."
Marcus Miah, a local community leader, asked people to stop sharing the video on social media. "It's too gruesome, it's not something kids should be watching, but also we should stop sharing it because of the victim's dignity and his family," he told the M.E.N .
"He's come to study and when you move to a new land you seek to make friends.
"One really positive thing to come out of this is that so many people care. Everyone has come together to voice their concern in unity. This is not going to be washed away or disappear."
Monira said that the incident has brought issues with anti-social behaviour to the fore and suggested parents need to take more responsibility for their children to help crack down on violent incidents.
"This is usually such an inclusive community," she added. "People will feed people who are hungry and that is the kind of warmth this community has.
"Whether it happened to him or someone else, the outrage would be the same. As a human you think if these young kids can do this, what else have they got away with? What could they do if nobody stops them?
"This is a lesson for us as parents to ask ourselves if we're doing enough. Where are we going wrong and what can we do to improve?"
Councillor Abdul Jabbar, who represents Coldhurst ward, attended an impromptu public meeting at the Anchor Business Park car park, off Featherstall Road on Sunday afternoon (July 3). At the meeting, a number of residents raised concerns about the police's handling of the incident and questioned why no arrests were made for almost two weeks.
Talking about the investigation earlier today, Coun Jabbar said: "People who were there [at the meeting yesterday] were reassured that progress is being made to catch the perpetrators. So I think that is a really good thing.
"Three individuals were arrested and they have got more leads and I hope further arrests will be made. Everybody is outraged by what we saw on the footage of that video and we need to now work with the police to get the perpetrators brought to justice.
"My understanding of all this is when the video became available, that's when everybody became aware of what was happening.
"I think things will calm down. People felt that nothing had happened since it happened on June 21. People felt like nothing was being done about it and there was a sense of anger.
"We need more police definitely, but you cannot cover every area with police officers. I don't know if you can stop something like this if people are determined to do something like that. We have asked for more visual policing in the ward, especially now.
"Police said they couldn't identify the perpetrators, after this video was released they can and people have been arrested."
Coun Jabbar also told the M.E.N that the council and police are doing "everything we can to manage the situation" and moved to reassure residents that no more retribution incidents appear to be planned.
He added: "I don't think anyone should be afraid, this is a terrible incident that's happened but police are dealing with it. We are concerned and outraged by it, but I hope this is just a very, very rare one off incident that's happened.
"We are doing everything we can to manage the situation and we have asked for more visible policing and for more police to be deployed so that people have got that reassurance.
"We will be watching things very closely. I am not seeing any retribution being planned or anything like that, I think it happened on Saturday night because people felt two weeks had elapsed and nothing had happened.
"The reassurance the community is looking for is for the perpetrators to be caught and brought to justice for this horrendous act. The focus now is to catch them and support this young man who has had the most horrific experience."
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