three men suspected of racist assault charged – RT in French

A video filmed on Christmas Day at a holiday resort in South Africa shows three white men attacking two black youths. As the suspects are called to appear, the country’s president has reacted.

Three white men violently attacking black teenagers in the swimming pool of a holiday resort: the shocking images made the rounds of South Africa, where the three suspects of racist attack were charged on December 29 .

The video, filmed on Christmas Day, in the middle of the austral summer, has so far accumulated more than six million views, as can be seen on the first Twitter account to have shared it. We see three middle-aged men trying to strangle, slap, put the head under water to two slender cousins ​​of 15 and 18 years struggling. One of the men, cigarette in hand, grabs the youngest’s hair and shakes his head.

According to AFP, the images of raw violence, sadly evocative of apartheid, were preceded by a heated exchange during which the men prohibited the boys from using the swimming pool, insisting that it was reserved for holiday center customers.

Witnesses say they wouldn’t have explicitly said ‘whites only’ but in a South African context that’s what many immediately heard.

The father and uncle of the teenagers, Brian Nakedi, told the press that he came, at the request of the two young people, to explain to these men “who happen to be white” that the teenagers, housed on the spot, had the right to access the swimming pool. They said it was ‘a misunderstanding’ but as soon as he left the fight broke out.

The South African president denounces the violence of the scene

When investigators arrived, “the altercation was over and the groups dispersed,” according to a police statement.

Police confirmed that two of the suspects, Johan Nel, 33, and Jan Stefanus Van der Westhuizen, 47, were charged and presented to a judge on December 28 for assault. The third, Jacobus Johannes Classen, 48, was presented to court the next day for attempted homicide, we learned from the prosecution. They are scheduled to appear on January 25.

The incident took place in Bloemfontein, in the Free State province, an area known for recurring racial tensions.

“We must rid our society of the violence” seen in this video, whether or not it “is accompanied by racism”, President Cyril Ramaphosa reacted on December 27. “It is deplorable that adults dealing with adolescents resort to violence with disturbing ease,” he added.