South Africa: two black teenagers assaulted by whites because of a swim
A South African police vehicle.
AFP - LUCA SOLA
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In South Africa, two black teenagers were assaulted by white adults on Christmas Day for trying to use the swimming pool of a holiday village where they lived, in the suburb of Bloemfontein, in the center of the country.
A filmed attack, which has since provoked a lot of reactions.
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With our correspondent in Johannesburg,
Claire Bargelès
More than thirty years after the end of Apartheid,
racial tensions
have not yet completely disappeared in
South Africa.
An investigation has been opened by the local police to determine the exact circumstances of the attack.
In a video widely shared on social media, the two boys, authorities say aged 13 and 18, can be seen being assaulted by a group of white adult men.
One of the assailants then begins to grab and squeeze the neck of one of the teenagers, before dragging the second into the pool, keeping his head under water.
According to witnesses, the confrontation would have started when the adults claimed that the swimming pool was reserved for them.
“
Such barbaric actions have no place
”
In a statement, the ANC head of local government, Sisi Ntombela, said she was "
disgusted
" by such images, adding that "
racism and such barbaric actions have no place in our region
".
The radical left party of the Fighters for Economic Freedom (EFF) went there on Monday, December 26, to denounce a country which has only completed “
a theoretical reconciliation
”.
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South Africa
Racism