Four white former university students in South Africa who allegedly forced black campus employees to eat food soaked in urine are going on trial.

南非四名前白人大学生因强迫黑人校园雇员吃用尿浸泡的食物而面临审判。

The video sparked student protests on campus

They face criminal charges after a video of the incident surfaced in 2008.

The footage also showed the ex-students instructing five elderly workers to drink beer and perform athletic¹ tasks.

Reporters say a national outcry（倒彩，强烈抗议） at the time put the University of Free State, which has predominantly white students, at the centre of a racial storm.

Court officials confirmed to the BBC that the former students - Danie Grobler, Johnny Roberts, Schalk van der Merwe and RC Malherbe - would appear before the Bloemfontein District Court at the start of their trial on Wednesday.

Last year, lawyers for two of the students reportedly said the video was "no more than play-acting（表演，装扮）".

The video is believed to have been recorded in protest against the university's plans to integrate（整合） black and white students in the same residences.

Correspondents say the university has encountered difficulties trying to integrate people from other racial groups.

At the time the footage emerged, the institution's rector, Professor Frederick Fourie, expressed shock at the video and strongly condemned² it.

Anger

Black students and workers at the university staged protests calling for the students' expulsion（开除，驱逐）.

The video shows five black people allegedly being instructed by a group of white students to down full bottles of beer.

The university workers, four women and a man, are then led to a playing field where they are told to display their athletic skills.

It is the final extract of the film that most angered members of the public.

It shows a white male urinating on food, and then shouting "Take! Take!" in Afrikaans - apparently³ forcing the campus employees to eat the dirty food, and causing them to vomit⁴.

Last year, the South African Institute of Race Relations expressed concern that the incident could threaten general improvements in race relations since the end of apartheid（种族隔离） in 1994.