Bikers escort boy to school

Photo: CTV

Hundreds of bikers gathered in Sydney, N.S., Wednesday morning to escort a 10-year-old boy who has been the victim of bullying to school.

The leather-clad bikers drove Grade 4 student Xander Rose to school and walked with him in a line to the front door of Harbourside Elementary.

Mike Basso organized the rally to support the boy after his mother reached out to a U.S. children’s advocacy group called Defenders Of The Children.

"I don't know if the smile is off his face yet," he said. "He was ecstatic. For the first time in a long while Xander wanted to go to school."

Basso organizes the Cape Breton Bike Rally and he said about 150 bikers showed up.

"The streets were lined with people who pulled over, clapping hands, tooting horns ... it was emotional," he said. "I was walking towards the front of the school with a lump in my throat."

Basso said the 10-year-old was being bullied because of his race and size.

"He is a mixture of aboriginal and African-Canadian and is 5'2 and 150 pounds," he said. "He was being bullied every day. It got so bad that kids on his school bus ripped his clothes off and another student threatened they would kill him."