Turkey has detained two shopkeepers accused of savagely beating two teenage Syrian refugees with clubs after spotting them stealing bread in the south of the country, AFP reports.
Security camera footage, which caused outrage on social media, showed two men racing out of their shops in the Hatay region of southern Turkey as the two teens took several loaves of flatbread from a display case.
The video, published by the Hurriyet newspaper on its website, shows the pair brandishing clubs and pummeling both the boys, who sink to their knees as they are forced against a wall by the intensity of the blows.
The boys are then made to put the bread back in the display case under the weight of more blows. One sprawls on the pavement in agony while one of the shopkeepers then kicks the other boy.
The two Syrians, aged 16 and 18, were hospitalised but released the same day.
Meanwhile, the two small business owners, named as M.T. and V.Z., were detained on suspicion of "causing intentional injury", the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Hurriyet said the two boys were also sent to court and faced being charged with theft.