Rufaro Chisango, who is the only black student on her floor, also heard them shout ‘blacks should go back to picking cotton’

A fresher at Nottingham Trent has posted a video of a group of students repeatedly chanting "we hate the blacks" inside a halls of residence.

yoo I’m fuming, the way people in the same uni halls as me are chanting “we hate the blacks” outside my bedroom door. Words cannot describe how sad this makes me feel, in this 2018 people think this is still acceptable? pic.twitter.com/XUiYqNIWQT — mazoe (@rufarochisango_) March 7, 2018

Rufaro Chisango, the only black student on her floor, posted the video which was filmed inside a student's bedroom on Monday night, where the chanting was happening directly outside.

In the video you can hear a group of boys chanting “blacks and whites were never meant to be together” and “sign the Brexit papers”.

Other chants, which weren't picked up on video according to Rufaro, include: "Blacks would go back to picking cotton".

Okay this happened Monday night, the video wasn’t able to catch what else they were saying which was “blacks would go back to picking cotton”. I’m the only black person on my floor and they were chanting this outside my door so don’t be surprised to why I didn’t leave my room — mazoe (@rufarochisango_) March 7, 2018

Rufaro said: "I'm the only black person on my floor and they were chanting this outside my door so don't be surprised why I didn't leave my room."

Female voices can be heard telling those chanting: “Leave her alone” and “we hate white people”.

Rufaro said she reported the incident to her halls' reception, who told her the incident would be dealt with the following morning. At the time of writing the tweet, she said she hadn't heard from them.

She continued: "I want to highlight how serious this is and if I had broken their [the uni's] table or anything they would have dealt with it straight away but not this."

I told the reception and they said that this will be dealt with Tuesday morning, they took my details and said they would inform me… it’s Wednesday night and they haven’t. — mazoe (@rufarochisango_) March 7, 2018

She also said she has written to Nottingham Trent University, as have her friends and family.

Rufaro posted the video on Twitter last night, and tweeted alongside the video: “Words cannot describe how sad this makes me feel, in this 2018 people think this is still acceptable.”

Last night the video went viral, with 13 thousand people retweeting and 17 thousand liking the original video Rufaro posted on Twitter.

After this, the official Nottingham Trent University twitter account finally responded to Rufaro last night, stating: "We are investigating this as a matter of urgency. We are taking this extremely seriously and do not tolerate behaviour like this."

We are investigating this as a matter of urgency. We are taking this extremely seriously and do not tolerate behaviour like this. — Nottingham Trent Uni (@TrentUni) March 7, 2018

Nottingham Police have account urged the student to give them a call on 101 to report this incident. They said: "Our team will be able to take the details of this incident and see what can be done."

Good evening. If you’ve not already done so, please can you give us a call on 101 to report this. Our team will be able to take the details of this incident and see what can be done. — Notts Police (@nottspolice) March 7, 2018

Over a thousand people replied to Rufaro, including Labour MP David Lammy who said: "Please contact the Police and your Member of Parliament and cc me in. All my love and solidarity."

Please contact the Police and your Member of Parliament and cc me in. All my love and solidarity. — David Lammy (@DavidLammy) March 7, 2018

While another woman asked: "Do you mind if we email the uni to get these students removed? Don’t want to step on your toes but they all need a beating or removing off their courses for this shit."

Do you mind if we email the uni to get these students removed? Don’t want to step on your toes but they all need a beating or removing off their courses for this shit — Abigail (@athyriumfilix) March 7, 2018

As of this morning, the suspected perpetrators have been suspended immediately and a full investigation has been launched into the incident.

The University has issued the following statement:

“We are shocked and appalled to see the video of racist chanting posted yesterday evening. This kind of vile behaviour will not be tolerated at Nottingham Trent University. Those suspected perpetrators have been suspended immediately pending a full investigation. We have contacted the student who made the complaint and are providing support to her and others affected. And we will be liaising with the police about this incident.

“We value being a diverse global community, with staff and students from across the world.

“We are also working with our accommodation partner to understand why the University was only alerted to this on Wednesday evening after this was reported to them in the very early hours of Tuesday.”

NTU have suspended the students in question pending a university investigation.

UPDATE: Nottinghamshire Police says two 18-year-old men have been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences.

Nottinghamshire Police says two 18-year-old men have been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences after a black student at Nottingham Trent University recorded racist abuse being chanted outside her room on video — Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) March 8, 2018

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