Students flow out of South Secondary School in London, Ontario at the end of the school day on Friday, October 19, 2012. (DEREK RUTTAN/QMI AGENCY)

LONDON, Ont. - Eight girls arrested by London police and charged with criminal harassment after a bullying investigation at a city high school have been suspended indefinitely.

Police are refusing to release the ages of the girls arrested. At least some of the arrests happened Thursday at London South Collegiate Institute.

It’s believed both the alleged bullies and the victim attended the high school, located in London’s Wortley Village.

“The courage of those that came forward to report this...that’s what we should be applauding,” London deputy police chief John Pare said.

School staff called an assembly for students Friday morning to arrest the alleged bullying, the arrests and the fallout.

The eight teens have been charged with criminal harassment. They were processed and released from custody yesterday.

City police said late Thursday night the investigation at South secondary school revealed a student was “the target of physical, emotional and cyber-bullying.”

Police provided few details, but said information about the bullying came “from direct disclosures” and an anonymous computer reporting portal called South Cares, available on the school’s website.

More charges could be laid, police said.

The charges come in the wake of the highly-publicized death of Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old British Columbia girl who took her own life last week after describing on YouTube how she’d been harassed by peers and a stranger online.

“If you look at the tragedy in B.C., we don’t know what the outcome in this situation was going to be,” Pare said. “The intervention will support the victim.”

kate.dubinski@sunmedia.ca

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