A video recently posted on the Internet showing two middle school students being beaten by their peers has again rocked Guangzhou this southern province's capital city.

In the video, two blue uniformed students, suspected of theft, are kicked and punched by dozens of others wearing green uniforms.

During the attack, shouts of "cool" can be heard. The two students can be seen lying on the ground trying to shield themselves from the blows and kicks.

"It was very frightening to see the two being attacked," said one Internet user.

Another said: "Even if they did steal, they should not be punished in this manner."

The video was shot through a mobile phone allegedly by one of the students participating in the attack. It was posted on the Internet by a person calling himself "5943485".

Since its posting last Tuesday, more than 8,000 people have watched it.

Many said this type of problem should not be solved by violence. It should be reported to the school authorities and left to them to deal with it.

Yang Sizhong, a guest professor at Shenzhen University, said he was shocked to hear of such an incident.

"Our schools' existing rules appear to be weak in dealing with such violence," Yang said.

Wang Yiming, a former researcher with the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, called on the State to draft new laws against violence in schools.

"Our existing laws do not contain concrete and clear references against school violence. Moral education has turned out to be far from effective," Wang said.

"To stop the situation from getting worse, it is time for the State to come up with new supplementary laws to punish the offenders and protect victims."

Wu Bian, a psychologist, said schools and parents of students "should provide counseling to students behaving badly. It should be nipped in the bud".

"Our consciousness as good citizens should also be strengthened students should report to teachers immediately if they spot a violent incident, and both schools and parents should work together to deal with such matters," Wu said.

(China Daily June 19, 2007)