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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Nadeem Badshah

Eton College apologises after allegations pupils jeered visiting state schoolgirls

Eton College, near Windsor, Berkshire
Eton College, near Windsor, Berkshire, said the incident occurred during a speech by Nigel Farage last week. Photograph: Manfred Gottschalk/Getty Images

Eton College has apologised and “sanctioned” a number of pupils after allegations that a group of girls visiting from a nearby state school were subjected to misogynistic language, racial slurs and jeering.

The boys’ private school near Windsor, Berkshire, told the BBC that an investigation took place into the incident which occurred during a speech by Nigel Farage last week.

A person, who said they were a parent of one of the girls who attended the speech, wrote on social media anonymously that the students were booed inside the lecture theatre and were subjected to “racial slurs” and “generally misogynistic comments”. They said of the private school pupils: “Their behaviour was awful.”

The poster also said that Eton boys had cheered Farage’s “worst comments on migrants and Covid”.

The college told the BBC it had apologised “unreservedly” for the “totally unacceptable” behaviour.

Farage said the atmosphere during his talk was “riotous”.

In 2013, the Salisbury Diplomatic Society hosted the then Ukip leader at Eton for a talk called Europe: In or Out?

The school, which charges more than £40,000 a year for boarders, counts Boris Johnson, Prince William, Prince Harry and David Cameron among its alumni.

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