14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed's family launched a Twitter account on Wednesday to thank his supporters using @IStandWithAhmed as his handle.
The Muslim teen who was arrested in the US today after a teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb, received a pat in the back from the President. As criticism and condemnation poured in on social media for what was called one of the worst instances of Islamophonia and racial prejudice, US President Barack Obama tweeted:
The photo of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed standing in handcuffs, wearing a t-shirt with the US space agency NASA's logo, was retweeted thousands of times in a matter of hours and "#IStandWithAhmed" was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.
Among those voicing support for the boy was Hillary Clinton, who tweeted:
Facebook co-founder and CEO too supported him on Facebook.
Mohamed told The Dallas Morning News that he was just trying to impress his teachers when he brought the clock to MacArthur High school on Monday.
"My hobby is to invent stuff," he said in a video posted on the paper's website that was filmed in his electronics-filled bedroom. "I made a clock. It was really easy. I wanted to show something small at first... they took it wrong so I was arrested for a hoax bomb."
Mohamed, who had loved robotics club in middle school and was hoping to find something similar in high school, said he didn't get the reaction he was looking for from his engineering teacher.
"He was like, 'That's really nice,'" Mohamed said. "'I would advise you not to show any other teachers.'"
But the alarm went off during his English class, and that teacher told him it looked like a bomb and confiscated the clock.
The school called police and Mohamed was taken away in handcuffs amid suspicion that he intended to frighten people with the device.
The aspiring inventor, who lives in Irving just outside Dallas, said police would not let him call his parents during a lengthy interrogation. Once released, he was suspended from school for three days.
'Suspicious device'
Police said Wednesday that they have determined that Mohamed had no malicious intent and it was "just a naive set of circumstances". "We're not going to pursue this any further," Irving police chief Larry Bond told reporters.
He insisted that Mohamed's ethnicity had nothing to do with the police response.
"Our reaction would have been the same either way. That's a very suspicious device," the police chief said.
He also insisted that officers did the right thing when they handcuffed Mohamed and brought him to a juvenile detention center for questioning. All prisoners are handcuffed for their own safety, Bond said, adding "unfortunately we've had people jump out of cars."
A school district spokeswoman also stood by the school's response, telling reporters that once people see images of the homemade clock they will understand that "we were doing everything with an abundance of caution".
A photo provide by police to local media showed a flat, rectangular red digital clock face screwed into the dark plush interior of a silver case along with a circuit board and some wires.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the heavy-handed response is particularly suspicious given the current political climate in Irving.
Mayor Beth Van Duyne has claimed that Muslims are plotting to impose Sharia law in America.
"This all raises a red flag for us: how Irving's government entities are operating in the current climate," Alia Salem, who directs the council's North Texas chapter, told the Morning News.
"We're still investigating," she said, "but it seems pretty egregious."
Wired magazine was among those who responded to the incident with a mixture of humor and horror, posting an article entitled "How to Make Your Own Homemade Clock That Isn't a Bomb" and encouraging kids to bring them to school.
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.
- President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015The photo of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed standing in handcuffs, wearing a t-shirt with the US space agency NASA's logo, was retweeted thousands of times in a matter of hours and "#IStandWithAhmed" was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.
Among those voicing support for the boy was Hillary Clinton, who tweeted:
Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe-they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building. https://t.co/ywrlHUw3g1
- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2015Facebook co-founder and CEO too supported him on Facebook.
Mohamed told The Dallas Morning News that he was just trying to impress his teachers when he brought the clock to MacArthur High school on Monday.
"My hobby is to invent stuff," he said in a video posted on the paper's website that was filmed in his electronics-filled bedroom. "I made a clock. It was really easy. I wanted to show something small at first... they took it wrong so I was arrested for a hoax bomb."
Mohamed, who had loved robotics club in middle school and was hoping to find something similar in high school, said he didn't get the reaction he was looking for from his engineering teacher.
"He was like, 'That's really nice,'" Mohamed said. "'I would advise you not to show any other teachers.'"
But the alarm went off during his English class, and that teacher told him it looked like a bomb and confiscated the clock.
The school called police and Mohamed was taken away in handcuffs amid suspicion that he intended to frighten people with the device.
The aspiring inventor, who lives in Irving just outside Dallas, said police would not let him call his parents during a lengthy interrogation. Once released, he was suspended from school for three days.
'Suspicious device'
Police said Wednesday that they have determined that Mohamed had no malicious intent and it was "just a naive set of circumstances". "We're not going to pursue this any further," Irving police chief Larry Bond told reporters.
He insisted that Mohamed's ethnicity had nothing to do with the police response.
"Our reaction would have been the same either way. That's a very suspicious device," the police chief said.
He also insisted that officers did the right thing when they handcuffed Mohamed and brought him to a juvenile detention center for questioning. All prisoners are handcuffed for their own safety, Bond said, adding "unfortunately we've had people jump out of cars."
A school district spokeswoman also stood by the school's response, telling reporters that once people see images of the homemade clock they will understand that "we were doing everything with an abundance of caution".
A photo provide by police to local media showed a flat, rectangular red digital clock face screwed into the dark plush interior of a silver case along with a circuit board and some wires.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the heavy-handed response is particularly suspicious given the current political climate in Irving.
Mayor Beth Van Duyne has claimed that Muslims are plotting to impose Sharia law in America.
"This all raises a red flag for us: how Irving's government entities are operating in the current climate," Alia Salem, who directs the council's North Texas chapter, told the Morning News.
"We're still investigating," she said, "but it seems pretty egregious."
Wired magazine was among those who responded to the incident with a mixture of humor and horror, posting an article entitled "How to Make Your Own Homemade Clock That Isn't a Bomb" and encouraging kids to bring them to school.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
