Two South African students who were disgracefully turned away from a Dublin pub because of their skin colour have described their experience as ‘humiliating’.
The two UCD students named Anathi Phela and Ezile Mhlambiso have recieved the support of the Irish public after security staff at an unnamed pub in Temple Bar blatantly refused the two gentlemen entry to it’s premises on Sunday evening. According to reports the young men were told by a security guard say that there were “no blacks allowed”.
In an extensive interview with RTE’s Radio 1 Liveline programme Mr Phela said: “He was dead serious. We spoke to him to see if he was being serious or if maybe there was a language problem, but it was not a joke, not at all. Mr Phela, an International Criminal Law and Criminology also said he was extremely disappointed nobody spoke out on their behalf.
Mr Phela told host Joe Duffy: “There were people going in and out, and we had to keep moving to the side to let people go through.” An understandably angry Mr Phela also told the show he found the Irish people as “very nice and friendly”, but was bitterly disappointed that nobody stood up for them during the incident.
The two friends further explained that they arrived at the pub on Sunday evening and were refused entry by the security guard who shamefully “stretched his arms out and said ‘no black people allowed’”. The pair then revealed that they asked to speak to the manager of the pub to challenge the door policy, but the security guard point blankly refused.
An upset Ezile told host Joe how they had to ask another representative to get the manager for them.“He came told us about the admissions policy, and said they have a right to not disclose the reasons why they deny access to people.”
“It was my first time experiencing such racism.” she added.
Source: Independent.ie