Irving (Texas): A 14-year-old Muslim boy has been arrested in Texas after a high school teacher decided that a homemade clock he brought to class could be a bomb.
Ahmed Mohamed, who enjoys tinkering with electronics, proudly took the clock to MacArthur High in Irving on Monday.
But one teacher raised concerns that it looked like a bomb, prompting the school principal and several police officers to question him, search his belongings and march him from the school in handcuffs.
Police don't believe the device is dangerous, but say it could be mistaken for a fake explosive.
Talking about what happened, Mohamed said police thought, “How could someone like this build something like this unless it's a threat?”
Mohamed was suspended from school for three days, but he has not been charged.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is investigating, saying the incident is typical of the negative attitudes toward Muslims in Irving.
Following Ahmed's arrest and subsequent release a flow of support erupted on social media for him.
Twitter users created the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed to show support for him. The hashtag was a worldwide trend and was a trending topic in India as well.
Here are some of the tweets with hashtag:
(With inputs from AP)
