It was supposed to be a joyful occasion. Young men and women gathered in a circle, displaying their dance moves as they celebrated Mali’s independence day in the country’s western region of Kayes. But things took a dark turn when a group of people carrying thick wooden sticks and machetes appeared all of sudden. The celebrating crowd – people from the so-called “slave” class – were brutally attacked and publicly humiliated by the descendants of slaveholder families who consider themselves “nobles”.