Young culture-enrichers in Denmark are increasingly disrupting a traditional Danish graduation custom by violent attacks on high school students who visit the homes of graduates.

Many thanks to Tania for translating this article from Den Korte Avis:

Everyone is familiar with the sight of open-bodied trucks filled with noisy happy students. It is a Danish tradition for high-spirited students to drive around and visit individual students’ homes on the day they don their graduation caps.

So it was with a class from Ørestad Gymnasium. But a day that began with celebration and joy was turned into something of a nightmare when a group of immigrant men attacked the vehicle, launching various “missiles”.

It happened in a Hørgården tenement on Amager, where many immigrants live. Here Mohamed also lives; he was one of the students on the truck.

A group of migrant boys and young men had planned an attack. In a video you can see how the waste containers were rolled out on the road to block the vehicle while students were inside at Mohamed’s family’s apartment. Watch the video here.

The driver, Brian Brandt, who stayed down by the truck, said he could see a group of youngsters with eggs, water balloons and cooking oil gather together on a nearby lawn. More and more people came to join them.

As the students came down the street one of the immigrant boys stood ready with a bottle of cooking oil, which was shaken and then sprayed over them. Then the rest of the group began to bombard the students with water balloons, eggs and flour.

Brian Brandt, who has been driving these student parties for 20 years, says he has never experienced anything like it.

“It was a shock to see the behavior of these young men. All the attackers had an immigrant background, and they were totally indifferent to what I said to them. At one point I was afraid that they would smash the truck,” says Brian Brandt to Ekstra Bladet.

He quickly tried to get the truck quickly away from the narrow Bryde Alley, but it was difficult, as the road was blocked by containers.

“They barricaded themselves and were ready with eggs by the containers, so I chose to back out. But when I get a ways down the road, I encounter other vehicles,” says Brian Brandt to Ekstra Bladet. These can also be seen on the video.

Meanwhile the attackers bombarded the truck with eggs and water balloons and even jumped up on the side of the truck and begin pouring cooking oil over some students who were trying to hide under some banners which they had torn from the side of the truck bed.

One of the students in the truck was Stina Marie Carlsen. She tells about the experience which for her was a huge shock:

“I notice that a crowd of about 20 young people start to congregate around the truck, but don’t otherwise think anything of it. When we get up into the back of the truck, they suddenly began attacking us and throwing eggs and oil and flour. Several of my classmates begin to pull some carpets off the pallet tables that were in the middle of the vehicle, while the others pulled banners from the side of the truck in an attempt to use these as protection,” says Stina Marie Carlsen to BT.

“I was beginning to think about how to get away from there, as the driver could not drive anywhere. Imagine if they came up to us in the wagon! At the same time it was really disgusting to feel egg and flour running down my head and my back. I was completely soaked afterwards and it stank terribly,” she says to BT.

Stina Marie Carlsen was afraid that the rest of the day would be ruined and the student run canceled as the truck was completely covered in eggs and oil after the attack.

The trip, however, was completed, although only with effort.

“I had to shower a total of three times during the rest of the trip because I could not get the smell of eggs and oil away. At the same time I kept finding eggshells in my hair. My mother had to come with a change of clothes for me, “says Stina Marie Carlsen to BT.

Mohamed: It was just for fun – Police: We take it very seriously

Mohamed El Ar Bagi tells EB, that it really was for him the eggs were intended, and that the throwing of eggs after students had been a tradition in the area for some years, he says.

“But this time they may have gone too far. But we just laughed and blotches of egg on my student cap is only a dear memory of the day,” says Mohamed.

Others are also trying to downplay the attack. They’re just little boys, they said. But on the video you can see that they are big guys.