Saturday, 3rd January 2009 - 12:42CET
Police clarify Marsa comments
In making comments on Marsa in a recent court case, police superintendent Silvio Valletta wanted the accused to learn that Malta had laws and these had to be obeyed.
The police said today they wanted to clarify media reports on Supt Valletta’s comments during an arraignment in court.
timesomalta.com had reported Supt Valletta telling the court that Maltese people were becoming too scared of going to the area near the open centre in Marsa.
The police said that Supt Valletta was one of the prosecutors in the case against Somali Ali Mohammed Abhukhadir who pleaded guilty to theft from a vehicle, the illegal arrest of a person and of slightly injuring this person.
The defense lawyer asked the Courts to put the accused on probation but Supt Valletta did not agree and wanted to give the message that Malta had laws and these had to be obeyed.
So he insisted in court that even if there were no laws in the country the accused came from, he had to learn that in Malta there were laws and these had to be obeyed.
Supt Valletta, the police said, had told the Courts that one also had to ensure that Marsa did not become a no-go area for the Maltese and called on the Courts to give the accused a harsher sentence than that requested by his lawyer to ensure this.
It was the duty of the police, Supt Valletta had said, to ensure that Marsa did not become a no-go area.
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Comments
What he said is the truth and no matter how much we try and twist facts and press releases,
Marsa today is a No Go Area. Anyone who states otherwise is free to take up the challenge
to walk through their day or night!!!
What the police corps did with such a statement is to shield the seriousness of the accusation brought against this illegal immigrant by shifting the attention on what
the Supt. Valletta stated...which is the truth!!
I agree that migrants shouldnt have been put en masse in an overcrowded filthy area, known for criminality.
However to be fair with the govt, as far as I know there aren't children there. Correct me if I'm wrong
@Justin Meli: I know first hand on the prostitutes issue. I was raised in Gzira. What has this 20 year government done over there??? Nothing!!! So you wont bring up your children there. But it's OK for little African children. You have any pictures you can e-mail the group with your children sharing a good time with little African children???
I, for one already do not go to the area mentioned for fear of my safety.
No-go areas are sprouting up in our beloved, 'safe' and tiny Malta thanks to them and the inefficiency of the government!
Are you seriously instructing a maltese citizen to avoid a maltese road intersection where he can learn with a driving-instructor?! Malta is for the Maltese, and there shouldn`t be any NO GO Areas for us citizens in order not to raise hope for an illegal immigrant who is seeking one-day job opportunities. Yes its obvious that there are many other intersections where he can practice, and it`s also true that immigrants have other options rather than come to Malta!
@Malcolm Seychell
@Dennis Catania
I'm sorry I did not reply to your last comment yesterday as I had to get out and meet some friends. Thank you for your advice, i.e. that of going abroad to help immigrants in their own country. That would be a noble mission. However, at present I am needed here, in my own country. I will only be ashamed if I were to be one of those who would rather have the illegal immigrants drown before reaching our shores. You keep missing my point: I do not rejoice when these immigrants end up in Malta, however I am duty bound to help them if they need my help once they are here. If you are so irritated and frustrated because I help needy human beings, then, I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can tell you.
Are you joking?
tone nastri
No Mr. The Maltese emigrants were not ILLEGAL. They were LEGAL and went because the countries where they emigrated wanted immigrants. They had to have school and trade certificates, had to submit to health checks before being accepted, they had to have someone already in the country who had to guarantee that they will not be a burden on the state social security, and lots of other conditions.
The ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are just that. ILLEGAL, UNWANTED and UNWELCOME.
Good life or not I don't want what I and my forefathers have worked for disappear just to give them a better life. They should stick to their own countries and work hard as we he and those before us worked to be where we are now.
Manuel Mifsud
You can go to their own countries and work for them there.
Helena Psaila
Try pulling the other one Helena.
They can fight in their own countries for a decent life as we and those before us have done to be where we are now. I shall not let any ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT destroy what we have worked for.
We will also pray for you.
The 'immigrants' standing/sitting around in those locations do so only in the [all-to-often vain] hope of being given a day's work. Road intersections are consequently popular locations for that purpose. Any vehicle stopping next to these persons is interpreted by them as being driven by someone who could offer such job prospects. That is all there is to it.
Mark Tabone, there are other junctions where your pupils may practice driving, and so thereby avoiding raising false hopes in those 'immigrants' who are so evidently desperate for the opportunity of an honest [fairly paid] day's work.
Big difference between illegals arriving from any country to anyone coming from PALESTINE
illegal or not. We are ALWAYS ready to SHELTER and HELP Palestinians.
Why should GAZA population stop bombing Izrael? It's their HOMELAND legally occupied
by Izrael. As FREEDOM FIGHTERS for their land it is proper and natural to bomb the occupiers. America should supply them with W.M.D. and legally will use them against Izrael.
Hamas are DEMOCRATICALLY elected to govern all PALESTINE , all the world accepted their
legallity except the U.S.A.
WE Hamas sympathisers MALTA , except the hypocrite ODD ONES, are always ready to help
them
if You want to call the government racist go ahead. for the government and for people like you the little african children arent good enough for swieqi etc..you too know that marsa was a dangerous place to go , heck go and raise your children there near the prostitutes , drug dealers , high population of heroin addicts etc., it is a fact that part of marsa was always a mess ..
i never for a second ever felt threathened in the open centre , infact it feels safe and these monstrous criminals make you feel welcome .
this right wing propoganda has to stop.
Racists are the ones who put this people in Marsa, knowing it was always a dangerous place??? Why would you put little African children in a dangerous place like Marsa??? Why not Sweiqi??? Why not the Luxor??? Are these little African children not good enough for Sweiqi or Luxor??? Why can't we move them to Sweiqi??? For a better chance.
Justin Meli you seem like a very smart man, you even knew Marsa was dangerous. Can you answer some of these questions. If your claim is right. That the police KNEW that Marsa was dangerous??? Is the government a racist??? Why didn't the police stop the government from putting tent city in Marsa??? Where will the next tent city go???
The Maltese immigrants you are referring to in the 1940s and '50s were not illegal, for the simple reason that during those periods, Malta was a colony/protectorate of Great Britain and the Maltese all had British passports.
Britain was our mother country then!
So, how can one be illegal in his own mother country?
AJA.
..
Read the article "Unemployment a social time bomb for Spain" in this very same newspaper (The Times) today.
Stop spreading all this hatred. The Maltese were always renowned for their friendliness and generosity especially with those in need. May God bless you all and may you and your loved ones never come to the point of having to leave your country to seek shelter somewhere else.
Worse of all, various do-gooders are always at hand to make the decent citizens of the world feel guilty as if the plights were all of their making. So, I work hard all my life, pay my taxes, observe all my civil and social dues and strive to bring up a decent family, but then I am also made to feel guilty for the misdemeanours of all those who blithely flout all human and social decency.
That is where the problem lies.
@all
your comments , spreading hatred and misinformation about illegal imigrants is causing more and more hatred in the maltese people and is making marsa more a nogo area .
your excuses and hiding after ISOLATED incidents to spread hatred and racial discrimination is whats the maltese police should work on....
This is also very much the core issue in the current Gaza-Israel problem. Instead of running around the streets creating panic and instead of international communities organising "protest marches" and throwing shoes all over the place, why don't the people of Gaza impose on their leaders to STOP bombing Israel - after all, it was they themselves who voted Hamas into power. So again, instead of solving the problem they themselves created, Hamas sympathisers look to the international community to solve the problems they themselves have created!
No one forces you to help them but you have no right to stop others from doing so.
People deserve a decent life wherever they are.
People only have life - if that is not decent, what else remains?
Everyone was very courteous and I did not feel threatened.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/malta-refugees
It quoted Father Joseph Cassar of the Jesuit Refugee Service as saying that in five years time there will be “a social catastrophe”, with ghettoes and social unrest in Malta as a result of the illegal immigrants. We already have the ghettoes. Marsa is one of them. Other towns are on their way to becoming ghettoes. Do we need the social unrest?
Does a car thief have the same right to drive your car by stealing it??? Mr.Mifsud LEGAL immigrants have the rights to a better life. Illegals need to go back home and do it properly. Apply for entry to any of the 27 EU countries. If that's were he wants to go.Before i would come in your house, I would ring your bell and wait for you to invite me in.
The ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS have a right to a decent life in their own country not OURS where they came ILLEGALLY.
As for the vast majority of the people, the online poll by The Times proves you WRONG time and time again.
We and our forefathers have worked hard to be where we are and we shall not allow the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to destroy what has been built at great sacrifices.
If you feel like wanting to give them a good life go to their own countries and work for them there.
Supt Valletta is paid to uphold the law and to protect Maltese law abiding citizens. If immigrants who are living off our generosity and taxes are not taught and warned to behave and conform to our laws they should be forced to do so. Let's hope that there are more law enforcement officers like Supt Valletta. We have a very serious problem tha is bound to grow beyond control in 10 - 15 years time. We have repatriated Egyptaians, Why cannot we also reptriate Somalis. We know where they came from. Can anyone tell me if any serious investigations were made about the boat people who carry sattelite phones or about the powerful outboard engines on their boats.
Talking of drink driving - does anyone breathalise the guys that have just re-done the white lines on the Coast Road in the area between the Naxxar Road and St Paul's Bay - at least one of them must have a terrible hang-over - or perhaps just the jitters LOL.
Such as those people who don't admit that the Maltese are prone to mistakes and think that they have a superiority complex?
Illegal immigrants have the right to live a decent life as much as you do. Thank God, the vast majority of Maltese and Gozitans are of the same opinion.
Im not scared to walk in marsa why should i be. And why would i go where the immigrants live. theres nothing there to see anyway. Its true its getting out of hand here. To many immigrants but not all are bad people.theres bad in every nation including malta ok.if they break the law then they should be punished like everyone else here on the island. But dont single out the immigrants. For me i would be more worried about getting stabbed in paceville by some drunk idiot.
It is irrelevant what Supt. Valletta actually said. The fact of the matter is that Marsa is a “No Go Area”.
Let’s hope that our Government does not designate further such sites in our neighbourhoods.
Are we Maltese helpless in this situation?
Unfortunately our elected representatives seem to be abdicating their legitimate obligations in safeguarding the interests of the electorate.
As far as I know I did not vote for a programme that included such policies. Or was there something between the lines, which I didn’t see?
Quo Vadis Malta?
../..
David Pisani
Superintendent did the right thing at the right place which should have been done long ago by EFApn and Gonzipn.
Manuel Mifsud
The funds should be to employ MALTESE CITIZENS who are out of work not ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Allowing them to work will entice more to come here.
Give us ALL Malta back.
@Ronnie Galea: You are a 100% right. The illegal immigrants made Marsa a no-go zone or I should say the government and or the Maltese Police Dept hire ups. For not taking a close look at this problem and provide proper police protection. Hire more police. Hit the pavement and walk the beat.
"even if there were no laws in the country the accused came from"
Does Supt Valletta know this for a fact? Does this not hint at arrogance from the Supt, that Malta is such a superior country. Why don't we go through all the court cases of Maltese citizens charged with theft from a car and see what sort of sentence they got and if they were let out on bail?
I stand by my initial comment (especially as there has been no explanation of Supt Valletta's comments) that it was very reckless of Supt Valletta to make these comments.
Its good if Suprt Silvio Valletta addressed this point with The prime Minister or the Minister in Charge instead of the courts.
To mention things such as a no go area, for me wasn't the right place and moment, when that person is brought in courts in relation to a crime. Sorry for me the police superintendent
was wrong.
Its not a point of taking sides here, its about talking the just way.
Meanwhile I urge the authorities to do their utmost to limit the influx of illegal immgrants. I also urge those persons who instigate hatred towards these immigrants to come out with some tangible solutions to this enormous problem.
If only, we had more upstanding people in Malta like this Policeman who calls a spade a spade and not hide behind the facts, than we can call ourselves a real free democracy.
Unfortunately there are too many do-gooders, who are frightened to speak the full truth at all levels of our administrators at the expense of the Country's interests!
@Supt:Valletta; What comments are you upset at??? The ones that called you racists??? or The ones that backed you up your statements??? If you a upset at the ones that backed you up your statement. Sorry, Supt.Valletta we will never stop backing up the Maltese police dept. Never Never Never. Not just the ones that arrest illegals immigrants, but also back up the ones that arrest the Maltese that commit crimes.
i might ask?
who wants to go thier anyhow?