anti-apartheid protest south africa
An anti-apartheid protester takes a seat on a white-only bus in South Africa

A Swedish bus driver is at the centre of a race row after allegedly forcing passengers to travel in separate vehicles according to the colour of their skin.

The driver was said to have directed white people to one vehicle and black, Asian and other non-Caucasian passengers to another in what has been described as an apartheid-type incident reminiscent of the white-only and black-only buses in racially segregated South Africa.

The driver was believed to have separated passengers by race on the Stockholm-Grisslehamn route over two days recently.

Complaints were lodged with the bus operator, People Travel Group, and the driver, who has not been named, was removed from the route.

Samer Chatila, one of those not allowed on the "white" bus, told the Daily News he felt "insulted, offended and discriminated against".

"It was a very unpleasant experience. It felt like we were on our way to be deported from Sweden," the mechanical engineering student, who was born in Sweden, said.

"I never though this could happen in Sweden. When we challenged the driver, he said if we did not like the system we could get off the bus."

People Travel Group director Tomas Karlsson confirmed that the incident was under investigation and that the driver would face a disciplinary hearing.

"It seems like this was a single driver's decision and it only happened twice, but that is bad enough," Karlsson said.

South Africa