ENGLAND — Video posted to TikTok shows one of the Queen’s royal guards appearing to stomp over a young child in London.
The footage shows two guards marching side by side at the Tower of London when a young child quickly steps right into the path of one of the guards. The guard then walks right into the child, knocking him to the ground before shouting and carrying on without pause.
Bystanders gasped as the child fell to the ground, but he quickly got back to his feet, seemingly unhurt.
Footage of the incident prompted controversy online over whether the guard or the child’s parents were to blame.
The TikTok caption suggested the boy’s family were spending their first day visiting England.
Several users on social media said the guard could have used some common sense and avoided knocking the boy down.
“That child isn’t dangerous I get it’s their job but it’s a child there was no reason to do that,” a user said.
“It wouldn’t kill the guard to walk around the child, if it’s adults in the way I understand, but if it’s a child you can make an exception,” another replied.
But other users online also took to social media to blame the parents instead.
“I blame the parents, absolutely no awareness of their surroundings,” a person wrote, with others agreeing: “People don’t understand that those guards aren’t there for tourist attraction and are highly trained soldiers there to protect the Queen.”
Since, the Ministry of Defense released a statement saying that they were aware of the incident.
“The Guardsmen on duty warned members of the public that a patrol was approaching but the child unfortunately ran out in front of the soldier unexpectedly. The soldier tried to step over the child and continued on his duty.
“Following the incident, the soldier checked on the child and was reassured that all was well,” an Army spokesperson said.