This incidence of senseless violence happened in a park on Sunday morning.
Police are still trying to establish the assailant’s identity.
The youngster, who sustained injuries to his eye socket, was able to talk with police for a first time on Tuesday and provided details of his attacker’s appearance.
As a result police were able to pull in a local man for questioning, but were obliged to release him again due to lack of evidence.
The public prosecutor’s spokeswoman Caroline Jonckers was unable to confirm a racist motive for the attack: "At the minute it’s not clear what triggered the attack or what the motive was."
The 17-year-old is now on the mend, though his mother told Gazet van Antwerpen that her son had suffered permanent brain damage.
Flandersnews.be / Expatica