More eyewitnesses saw handcuffed migrants ‘beaten’ by police

Daphne Caruana Galizia

Jul 2nd 2008, 00:51

Edward Cassar: on the contrary, there are several witnesses to the fact that police officers beat a man. There are absolutely no witnesses (outside the police force) to the allegation that a man beat police officers.

Corinne Vella

Jul 1st 2008, 17:09

Oscar Cassar: Thank heavens for "Ms Rebecca Filletti and Co" questioning the actions of the police. Perhaps you are puzzled by their action because you subscribe to the "see no evil, hear no evil" school of civic consciousness. Their action is not difficult to understand at all. Nor is it difficult to understand the action of the two migrants involved in this horrible episode.

If you were beaten up by the police – whether on the ground of resisting arrest or otherwise – and were then accused of doing the beating yourself, you would hardly stand up in court and say otherwise, would you? If you were a bystander with your head screwed on right, a hefty dose of common sense, an awareness of right and wrong and a more than amateur knowledge of what is or is not acceptable at law, you would question wrongdoing when it happens as "Ms Rebecca Filletti and Co" have done.

Kenneth Cassar

Jul 1st 2008, 14:59

"Do you think we are in Zimbabwe?" - we're getting there, apparently.

Corinne Vella

Jul 1st 2008, 14:38

M Mercieca: "no one, including myself, dared say anything" What, exactly, were you afraid of? Would it have been too much to speak to the woman (the one in the wheelchair, not the one in the police uniform) in a kindly manner? Or to engge the policewoman in conversation on some unrelated subject so that her mouth would have been full of something other than unpleasantness?

Corinne Vella

Jul 1st 2008, 13:45

Edward Cassar: "It seems a lot of people said that they saw the incident but no one comes along as a witness."
The people who said they saw the incident ARE the witnesses you say are absent.

Shaun A. Camilleri: "let us not discriminate against the Maltse please." Apparently we don't. Perhaps you didn't read today's follow up report? A Maltese person was reportedly slammed against a wall in a related incident. Read that report here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080701/local/probe-into-police-beatings-of-migrants
The same story also says the following:
"With the sources' consent (including that of the anonymous British eyewitness) their names and contact details were handed over."

Matthew Caruana Galizia

Jul 1st 2008, 13:04

Edward Cassar: this is not just hearsay. Like many other witnesses to Friday night's incidents, I was called to the police depot to give a signed statement, which I've just done.

Twanny Borg

Jul 1st 2008, 11:54

The Police are there to uphold the law not to break it. Rightly or wrongly .by its very nature any Police force attracts unsavoury characters,it is these that have to be routed out.

And if there are no videos and no one willing to testify,it is like everything else in Malta.It is because people feel intimidated .People are afraid to speak out whether it be against a Police officer hitting someone or against a building permit or to criticise a Politician. We are all afraid and theerfore we create our own hell.

Oscar cassar

Jul 1st 2008, 10:54

Please note that it was the 27-year-old Suleiman Ismail Abubaker, who admitted in court of assaulting three police officers and damaging the police van after apperinly being accused of stealing a mobile phone from an 18-year-old. Mr Abubaker was not alone and at least he surly seems to have been in the company of Kaba Konate, a 26-year-old from the Ivory Coast who also admitted that he had violently resisted the police in their duties.
What I find difficult to understand in this article is that while the migrants who had allegedly been beaten had admitted in court that they assaulted the police ecc, it is Ms Rebecca Filletti and Co that is accusing the police officers on duty and not the migrants or their lawyers.

Sandro Pace

Jul 1st 2008, 09:56

I still have trust in our police force. There were worse stories then this on violence from immigrants on police and soldiers, but without such an overblown fuss. One of them is the Floriana Depot riot in 2005, where police had broken heads and bites.

No one shall lift a hand or spit on our police, and expect a cuddled reaction. Spitting may have bad consequences.

Most of you will now say 'if they cant.......they cant do this or that........they are paid for such things..........'

My support still for the police, the armed forces, and their families, for what they have to daily endure, and for a meagre salary.

Shaun A. Camilleri

Jul 1st 2008, 09:40

To the commentator Mark Mifsud. Please do not exaggerate when have the police fired at unarmed people? Are you confusing them with some American teleserial? Many people seem to start condeming anyone who has anything to do with non Maltese people. Everything a Maltese does is wrong. Yet when someone is in need it is always the Maltese they call out to. Please be fair extremisim is not good for anyone in any form or shape and let us not discriminate against the Maltse please. To the British person who wants to have their identity protect in case of reprisals. Do you think we are in Zimbabwe? Be serious.

D Buhagiar

Jul 1st 2008, 09:20

Shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucy PG

Jul 1st 2008, 09:04

And the level of trust in the police keeps going down... and i'm sorry, but rightfully so! This attitude and abuse of power must stop once and for all! If they can't handle their emotions they should go to therapy like everyone else! We should not accept and ignore this disgusting behaviour, lest it happens to us one day!

M. Mercieca

Jul 1st 2008, 06:35

Last summer, I too had witnessed something that really shocked me. I was in a 'female' hospital ward as an out patient and waiting in the same room was this sickly immigrant who was so frail and so pale that she could barely move in her wheelchair.

The female police constable who was accompanying her (and whose number I noted) treated her as if she was dirt. She passed hurtful remarks about her in front of all the people present in the room and in front of the nursing staff too. This female pc was the only speaking person in the room (because no one, including myself, dared say anything) and all she did was instill hatred.

Believe me, you have to witness these incidents to believe how these human beings are being treated, especially by police who should bring unity and peace in this country.

As soon as I got home I immediately reported the case to the JRS, but up to day, I still don't know what happened.

R.Gauci

Jul 1st 2008, 00:36

If alegally so much people saw the police beating the immigrants is it possible no one took a video or picture on a mobile phone? And as far as I know there are also CCTV in Paceville area!

Edward Cassar

Jun 30th 2008, 23:33

Stop blaming the police ,what is being said is all hearsay. It seems a lot of people said that they saw the incident but no one comes along as a witness. It is not a question whether the illegal immigrant did anything wrong or not ,he is not supposed to resist arrest from a police officer.
So any criminal while being arrested can just shout that he is innocent and the police have to let him go.That is agood one.

Albert Farrugia

Jun 30th 2008, 22:54

..and then some have the cheek to claim that anything has changed in this country since the PN "sun" rose in 1987 and since a bunch of teenagers began waving the blue starry flag of Europe. How rotten are the Police really? Where is the inquiry into last year's shooting by the Police in Qormi? Where is the inquiry about the Nicholas Aquilina case? (Dead while under arrest). And dont we remember the policeman hitting an old lady? I will do my best to make these incidents known far and wide in the internet and around the world. Or do some fear "indhil barrani" after all?

Mark Mifsud

Jun 30th 2008, 20:30

This sort of behaviour is disgusting but coming from the Police who are supposedly to be fair and even handed it is even more so. It is shocking in the extreme and if proved(and how easy is that?) these officers should be dismissed from the Police force and handed a stiff jail sentence.

How much more must we hear of Policemen beating and shooting unarmed people before someone is hauled before the courts.

We still await reports on the shooting in Qormi and quite a few others. It is to be hoped that this isn't just another case 'of sweeping it under the carpet till it's all blown over'