Student ‘slave party’ reported to police

A ‘jungle party’ which featured the sale of ‘slaves’ with blacked-up faced and ropes around their necks has led to two student associations at a Swedish university being reported for hate crimes. The National Afro-Swedish Association has filed a complaint against both the Helsingkrona and Halland student associations at Lund University in southern Sweden following the ‘bad taste’ campus get-together.

“Slavery is one of the worst crimes against humanity and students at Lund University are trying to make a joke about it,” Jallow Momodou of the Afro-Swedish Association told The Local. “They are laughing at the fact that several million of my ancestors were kidnapped, raped and killed,” he added.

The so-called slave auction, which was attended by about 90 students, saw three people with blacked faces led into the hall by a “slave trader” with ropes around their necks. They were then sold to the highest bidder as part of the night’s entertainment.

Jallow said, however, that he does not believe the incident sprung from a lack of knowledge about the slave trade. “This is not a bunch of skinheads. This is the elite. Lund’s students – some of the best educated in Sweden,” he said. “This racism is becoming all too common,” he added.

The incident has been reported to the police and the National Afro-Swedish Association said it plans to bring the Equality Ombudsman in on the matter. Elinor Lavesson, from Halland Nation, however, claimed the ‘slave auction’ was simply the unfortunate actions of a rogue group of students.

“Our party had a theme along the lines of the Lion King; the interpretation by the group of students was really stupid. They regret their actions and we plan to look over our equality policies to work to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” she said.