Grotius College students #fundie bbc.com

Police in the Netherlands have stepped up security at a school after staff and students received threats following the suicide of a 15-year-old boy, allegedly due to bullying.

Tharukshan Selvam, from Sri Lanka, left a note saying he was being harassed by other students at Grotius College, in the city of Heerlen, and online.

His family says the school was alerted but did not act.

The death will be investigated by school and city officials.

He took his own life on Sunday, on the last day of the school holiday. His family said he was the victim of racial abuse by other students and was being harassed by anonymous social media accounts, believed to be run by schoolmates.

They also say pupils forced him to spend money on them, only to not pay him back as promised.

The posts included unwanted photos of him and messages such as "Tharukshan die, you're not fit to live. We don't want you. Go jump in front of a train, commit suicide", his sister Saranya said on Facebook.

The family learned of the bullying after his first suicide attempt, in December, according to his sister. He then told police how he was being harassed and that he had tried to talk to his teacher about it, she added.

His family tried to alert the school but they failed to act, the sister said. The student refused to open up at home, she added, because he "didn't want to hurt his family".

"Tharukshan was not the first pupil to go through this at Grotius College. There were many other students who were bullied like this, yet the school made very little effort to prevent such issues," she said.

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