The dreadlocks of a black girl cut by white students in Virginia

A 12-year-old African-American youth accused three white classmates of having tied her up and cut her dreadlocks with scissors.

Amari Allen said the assault took place during recess at his private school in Springfield, Virginia on Monday.

She alleges that the boys kept her on a slide and called her hair "ugly" and "diapers" and cut some of them off.

The alleged attack took place at the Christian Emmanuel School, where the wife of the US vice president teaches.

"The boys came to me and they ambushed me, as if I had been caged," Allen told local media.

"And then they put their hands on my mouth, they put my hands behind my back and they started cutting my hair and said I was ugly."

"They took my lunch, ate it in front of me and told me that I did not deserve it, that I could just starve and stuff like that," added Ms. Allen.

The family said the incident had only been revealed on Wednesday when his grandmother had noticed that his hair was of a sudden length.

"It's very painful," said Cynthia Allen at a local CBS subsidiary. "I want to see them kicked out of school. I want something to be done."

In a statement, the school said it asked the local police to investigate the incident.

"We take the emotional and physical well-being of all our students seriously and apply a zero-tolerance policy for all types of bullying or abuse," said Immanuel Christian School in a statement.

"We are deeply troubled by the allegations made and are in communication with the alleged victim's family in order to gather information and provide all possible support".

The school, which costs Ms. Allen's family nearly $ 12,000 (£ 9,800) a year, is where Karen Pence – the wife of Vice President Mike Pence – teaches part time art.

She returned to work at school earlier this year, after closely reviewing the staff's anti-LGBT requirements.