UK: Troops Hang Nazi Flag, Call Kenyans 'African Animals’

Two former soldiers are suing the British Army for the years of racist abuse they experienced while part of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, the same battalion that hit headlines after using a photo of Jeremy Corbyn as target practice.   

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UK newspaper, the Morning Star, reports that the evidence was presented in court by the two former soldiers Thursday. Former Lance Corporal Nkululeko Zulu and fellow ex-soldier, Hani Gue say they faced discrimination on the job with the military and witnessed numerous other soldiers expressing racist comments, even displaying Nazi symbols.

Specifically, the two say that while the battalion was stationed in Kenya, white soldiers would call local troops “African animals” and “f***ing n****rs.” The soldiers would often tell local children asking for coins to: “f**k off.” The claimants say that senior officers always left such comments unchallenged.

The pair even say that they saw Nazi flags and photos of Hitler displayed at a military base in Colchester, Essex.

Lawyer for the ministry of defense, Simon Tibbitts, argued that the claimants are “exaggerating” and that soldiers stationed in Kenya often have to use “quite firm words” against those begging near the military base. 

This is the second controversy for the battalion that is currently on active duty in Afghanistan. They drew condemnation in April after they used a picture of leftist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as target practice.

Public concerns about far-right tendencies within the U.K. military first emerged in 2015 when an active general told the Daily Mail that the military would possibly launch a coup if Corbyn were to be elected prime minister. The general criticised the Labour leader for his anti-war foreign policy.

This case is causing yet another headache for the army's lawyers who were also told Friday that there'll be an independent investigation into links between the U.K. military and the infamous 'Glennanne Gang', a pro-British death squad in Ireland that killed over 100 Catholics and Republicans during the country's civil war in the 1970s.