Kirkop Mayor, residents, concerned by migrant escapes

Corinne Vella

Feb 27th 2009, 15:50

L. Galea: "Do you see tourists in working clothes waiting to be picked up or travelling on a truck with building tools and covered in dust and concrete sciberras?" I see you have an aversion to dust and concrete. You also have an aversion to working clothes. How do you cope with living here and if you don't work, who pays your bills?

L..Galea

Feb 26th 2009, 22:10

Marie Oryem
Its because of the invasion and the trouble that the illegal immigrants are causing that has turned Maltese persons against them.
Furthermore, buses sometimes don't stop for them because of the problems they cause.
Not living here you do not know how many times bus drivers are threatened by them. Ask them and they will tell you.
After all, this is OUR country and they have NO right to be here.
And ignorance is when we are being inundated by illegal immigrants living like leeches on OUR taxes, causing disturbances and riots, breaking and torching public property, dealing in drugs, robbing, transmitting diseases, having the vast majority of the population are against them and we have the Prime Minister not seeing any problems.

Others posting their comments are also answering your assertions Marie Oryem

Raymond Sammut

Feb 26th 2009, 18:49

@ Antoine Vella

The Maltese people are not "scared" of the illegal immigrants. They are sometimes reluctant to be explicit and to air their concerns because they are afraid of being labelled "racist". For example, in your post you are labelling The Times as a "scare-mongering" reporting entity.

Ivan Attard

Feb 26th 2009, 17:13

This is sadly the state of the Nation as presented by Lawrence Gonzi.
The people who he should be listening to are speaking louder every day.
Will he keep on playing his ostrich games for long?

Marie Oryem

Feb 26th 2009, 17:01

Lgalea.. I have been with my black boyfriend in a bar in Valletta and believe what you like, I am maltese and I was set upon by maltese men just because the colour of my boyfriend. We were doing nothing wrong. He was well dressed and from London. I find it a disgrace how some of the maltese people see any black person as an immigrant in your country. Havent you read the maltese times recently?? Black people wait at bus stops and the bus drivers dont stop!!?? damn ignorance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaydee Zammit

Feb 26th 2009, 15:50

@ Antoine Vella
I live in Birzebbugia. Whenever I arrive home after dark there is always at least one immigrant who talks to me rudely, or try to touch me. I have also been through 2 dangerous situations with the immigrants, and another tried to take my handbag from me. I won't elaborate as a comment, because it is no one's business. Please refrain from saying that the 'fear' is all in the mind. I assure you, it is not. Whenever I get on the bus which goes to Hal Far, which for some reason is becoming more frequent than the usual Birzebbugia bus, more often than not some immigrant puts his hand between the bus seats to touch me. I have twice been followed home, and once I had a lucky escape with an immigrant who was bellowing in my face because I refused to give him my mobile number, when my friends arrived. Birzebbugia is becoming a scary place to live in, and it is NOT in the mind. And it's not only there. Most of them smell bad, and no medical tests are run. I assure you I don't care they're black, they could have been purple!

L..Galea

Feb 26th 2009, 15:45

A sciberras
Do you see tourists in working clothes waiting to be picked up or traveling on a truck with building tools and covered in dust and concrete sciberras?
And do you want us to believe that your son-in-law was thrown out just because he is black?

louise vella

Feb 26th 2009, 15:33

Congratulations for giving a voice to common people speaking normal language to express their Maltese values and worries.

We've had enough of preaching about so-called international obligations and "Maltese values". Of course they can hardly speak of "Christian values" with 30% of children being born out of wedlock!

joseph scicluna

Feb 26th 2009, 15:32

charity starts from home, and we dont need immigrants taking our belongings and hurting us by stealing the maltese people after we help them. When the army is called to fight it is useless and we dont need this.It is a waste of money and time that the country cannot afford at this time for example when ships and helicopters are called out

A sciberras

Feb 26th 2009, 14:35

Re L Galea
Please re-read my previous letter. I wrote with my concerns regarding D Borg and his sightings of immigrants in Gozo. I am not saying Malta hasnt got a problem with immigrants because a person is black they may not be illegal immigrants....understand L Galea? I say it again incase you dont understand. My son in law was thrown out of a bar because of his skin colour. He came to Malta on holiday spending his money in Malta for your pocket for your country as a tourist and was treated in this disgusting manner. It seems the bar manager had the same attitude as yourself. Now I hope I have proved otherwise L Galea.

eddie bonello

Feb 26th 2009, 13:20

Once again Mr. Agius. Don't you follow the local TV stations when they report the riots in the Safi Detention Centre? Don't you listen to the different radio stations when reporting the almost daily escapes form these centres? Don't you follow the daily newspapers? ARE YOU LIVING IN MALTA? Are all these exagerations ? If these incidents don't bother you that's your problem. But to us who were used to living in peace, we would like to continue doing so.

And just for record sake I never mentioned any gang-rapes. That was only in your immagination, maybe to be sensational. I only wrote about the actual facts.

Brian Maloret

Feb 26th 2009, 13:16

eddie bonello; some people can't see what they don't want to see and others stick their heads firmly in the sand. These attitudes don' to anything to address the problem of illegal immigration which most people see as being a problem.

L..Galea

Feb 26th 2009, 13:12

Giljan Agius
You must be the exception. Ask other residents whether the illegal immigrants have used their front gardens as public toilets and for sleeping in summer. Ask them whether they have to have someone at their house all the time because of illegal immigrants. Your dear illegal immigrants are ILLEGAL and have absolutely NO right to be in OUR country.

a sciberras, Antoine Vella
Prove otherwise sciberras.

d. borg, deb bugeja
You are right. They must be expelled forthwith.

Giljan Agius

Feb 26th 2009, 12:41

exaggerations galore as per usual.. of course i see the occasional black person walking here and there.. what's so bad about that:? it isn't like they're gang raping me every time i see a group of 3 Somalians, or whatever..

eddie bonello

Feb 26th 2009, 12:25

Come on now Mr. Agius. Didn't you see all those policeman just in front of the Lidl supermarket last Monday? Didn't you hear and see the armed forces helicopter hovering and coming down in the fields just behind the supermarket and in the fields on the road leading to Zurrieq and in the fields in Safi bordering with Kirkop.?? I don't think they were playing hide and seek but were there doing their duty in trying to capture the escaped Tunisians.

Yes it is true that our residents are now living under constant tension especially our old folk.

Prosit Mario and continue your good work.

Joe Sammut (Ta' Harrbat)

Feb 26th 2009, 11:47

The perimeter border fence surrounding 3 Regiment AFM's Safi Barracks is a disgrace and testimony to each Commanding Officer that has gone through that unit since its inception, and taking over of the premises from the RAF Engineering flight that was housed there. It goes to show that there's much disregard to decent physical and electronic security, and more emphasis on the daily workload of service-support to the remainder of the AFM. The overwhelming burden of hosting in inadeqaute, yet purposely hastily modified, barracks accomodation and warehouses, has left the basic facet of military premises' security severely overlooked. One wonders how much would have been saved and better invested if the 3 Regiment's Commanding Officers' got less of a performance-bonus for this severe lacuna. The MJHA's Detention Service hasn't been as benevolent from their side either, undeservedly when their headship is military-police trained in the USA,& well familiar with severe detention regimes, protocols, and procedures. It all goes to further demoralise the AFM soldiers attached, and former servicemen/policemen employed now in the DS.
Security at Safi Barracks was, is, and remains a big joke in the face of the taxpayer. Even scrapyards have better in nearby Luqa, see Googlemaps!

Keith D'Amato

Feb 26th 2009, 11:11

allura hana taz zurrieq il bod min safi u kirkop?? u ahna narawom addejjin ukoll !!!

Giljan Agius

Feb 26th 2009, 10:30

I am from Kirkop, and as yet, no black person has come to my house at 3 in the morning, nor have i seen regiments of soldiers at 4 am running around looking for people.. get a bit real.

D Spiteri

Feb 26th 2009, 10:30

There are enough man in the Detention centre to get them do something and construct the wall them selves.

john micallef

Feb 26th 2009, 10:22

i'm sorry to say mayor salerno, but this a partly your local councils / church fault. in the first place you shouldn't have given supplies when they still were 'few'. as you may now know, these are comming in 100s and have little or no respect to our way of living / security. the other part falls on the goverenment. our security forces are ill financed to compensate for the huge expenses our finance box has to fork out to keep these unwanted people. no wonder how the fences/boundary walls are not repaired. a small detail i used to notice some 2 to 3 years ago was on army vehicles. rarely would you see a vehicle which hasn't got adequate lighting (rear break lights and indicators), nowadays, nearl half of the vehicles i see on the roads do not have adequate lighting. this minute detail clearly shows how ill financed the army is. MR PRIMEMINISTER wake up or else are you using an energy saving alarm clock which doesn't sound the alarm bell to save on electricity?

a sciberras

Feb 26th 2009, 10:19

re: d borg, Because you see immigrants in Gozo roaming around from early morning until late at night what makes you think they are immigrants, are they labelled in some way? Does it not occur to you that they may be tourists? Due to a person being black doesnt mean they are immigrants as I found out on my last visit to Malta with my son in law from Uganda. He was thrown out of a bar at the waterfront in Floriana while buying a drink. Please D Borg think what you are saying and do not perceive a person by the colour of their skin.

Denis Catania

Feb 26th 2009, 10:19

@d borg: We need volunteers in Gozo for the peaceful car cade demonstration. If you know any, tell them to e-mail me deniscatania@yahoo.com or through the facebook group Save Malta From Illegal Immigration 2. Group 1 is closed for new members. We need people to help organize the car cade in Gozo one weekend morning in the very near future and then meet us in Malta. We will greet the great people of Gozo at the ferry on the Malta side, with a sound truck.

Antoine Vella

Feb 26th 2009, 10:17

This video can easily be described as a classical example of scare-mongering. One of the women said she was frightened by the armed soldier on her doorstep, not by the immigrants themselves while the others did not say why they were 'scared'. To be objective, the journalist should have pointed out that the immigrants have never been dangerous or violent towards the residents. This 'fear' is not based on actual experience but on ... well, on nothing really. None of the residents have explained what they are afraid of. The truth is that, because immigrants are treated like criminals, they become 'criminals' in the collective imagination of the villagers.

G Darmanin

Feb 26th 2009, 10:14

Well I assume that the Kirkop mayor and residents are wrong and as usual those who are in favour of the illegal immigrants are always right!!! Dont forget that the latter keep on reminding us that these immigrants are all 'saints' who just escaped from their country because of torture and misery! So I cannot understand why the Krikop mayor and residents are concerned with the frequent escapes of these living saints!

Kenneth Galea

Feb 26th 2009, 09:53

This is the mess caused by our do-gooders, the UNHCR and the GonziPN administration. We know that these illegal immigrants never wanted to make it to Malta. However Dr Gonzi's utter disregard brought us into this mess and chaos. Our government simply won't budge, he continues to dismiss this serious crisis. Dr Gonzi cannot continue letting in more illegals because we are full up, there is no more room. Yes it is true that the PL is not a strong critic on this issue but at the end of the day the buck stops with Dr Gonzi because he is in charge of Malta well at the moment.

Denis Catania

Feb 26th 2009, 09:47

These people in Kirkop have a reason to be concerned and scared. People waking up at 3:00 AM to soldiers carrying guns looking for escapees.

Listen to this Mayor, the numbers have become to high for the community to help.Malta is full up.

The facebook group Save Malta from Illegal Immigration 1 and 2 sends out emergency alerts to all members every time there is an escape for the safety of the Maltese people, legal immigrants and tourists alike.

Mario Micallef

Feb 26th 2009, 09:45

Our armed forces should be praised for their effort in dealing with such behaviour...i must say a lot of resources are lost every day in dealing with these escapees..one has to blame the government who is still in sleep mode...i totally agree with JPF comments...no more can we take...either they like it here or else you know the answer...this is a case of safeguarding our island and our traditions and cultures...CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME dear PRIME MINISTER

d. borg

Feb 26th 2009, 09:35

Wherever you go you see these immigrants roaming about from early morning till late at night. Even in Gozo we saw a number of them. It has become a really scary situation.

Michelle Dali

Feb 26th 2009, 09:18

This video clearly shows how understanding and kind-hearted the Maltese are. As the Mayor rightly says, it is one thing to help a manageable number of people who are genuinely in need, but quite another matter when these so-called refugees come uninvited in their thousands and who riot, damage property and escape from detention at will.

It is wrong that the law-abiding citizens of Malta, a country which was once one of the safest in the world, should now feel unsafe and threatened because of the endless, uncontrolled influx of illegal immigrants.

it is the duty of the government to see to it that this invasion is ended now before it is too late.

deb bugeja

Feb 26th 2009, 09:15

Not only the kirkop residence should be concerned but all the maltese in different cities and towns. they are spelling trouble for us the maltese.

Malcolm Farrugia

Feb 26th 2009, 09:12

Do you call that a detention centre? No wonder we have such escapes every week! Actually i wonder how there are still immigrants living there since it is so easy to jump the"fence".