Police in Gorinchem have started an investigation into a teenage gang after a video showing a youngster being set upon by a group of youths appeared online.

So far five teenagers, aged around 14, have made formal police complaints about the attacks after police appealed for more victims to come forward.

Police say several of the attackers, who kicked and punched their victims while they were lying on the ground, have been identified but no-one has yet been arrested. The local school board has also called on parents to be alert.

The videos are ‘sick-making’, Bert-Jan Kollmer of the OVO school association said.

‘This is disgusting and unacceptable,’ local mayor Reinie Melissant-Briene said in statement. ‘Everyone who has seen these images is as shocked and concerned as I am.’

The police have asked witnesses to turn over their videos to the police as evidence, and to stop sharing the videos online out of compassion for the victims.