In the aftermath of Tuesday ’s riots at the Safi detention centre, migrants in detention speak to Kurt Sansone about their plea for freedom.

It is the frustration of being treated like a criminal and kept locked up for 18 months that caused migrants to riot this week, according to an Ivorian, locked up at the Safi detention centre.

“I appeal to the Maltese authorities not to send our friends to prison because what they did was not because they are violent but because of frustration,” he said, referring to the 23 migrants accused of fomenting the riot. They were remanded in custody at Corradino Correctional Facility pending the outcome of the court case.

Speaking over the phone from Warehouse Two, the Ivorian, who preferred to remain anonymous, reiterated the migrants ’ plea for freedom.

Freedom is the single word that most kept cropping up in three other telephone conversations with migrants held at the Safi detention centre.

The Ivorian, the only one to declare his nationality, said he had a residence permit in Libya and had been working for four years there before the war broke out earlier this year. “I was doing well but I had to escape because of the war, like many other Africans held here in detention,” he said, insisting they were not criminals.

Calm may have returned to the Safi detention centre yesterday, three days after a five-hour-long rioting spree, but the migrants were still unhappy with the state of affairs.

A migrant from West Africa housed in Block B said the place was full of mosquitoes, some of the fans did not work and the food was not good. But it was the frustration of being denied freedom that was the harshest challenge to endure. “We wake up in the morning, pace up and down the corridor and then go to sleep again.”

He said the Africans fleeing Libya never intended to come to Malta. He lamented the country’s detention policy, comparing it with Italy’s where migrants are held in open centres once they are documented.

“We did not commit a crime. We ran for our lives when we escaped from Libya. Our friends on Tuesday were fighting for their rights. They did it wrongly but we also have human rights,” he said.

Another man from West Africa held in Warehouse Two said he could not understand why Somalis and Eritreans, who arrived in the same boat as them, were released from detention after a few weeks while other Africans were detained for 18 months.

“The people of Malta saved us from the sea but I beg them to give us our freedom,” he said, insisting that some of them even had relatives still in Libya.

Turning to Tuesday’s riot he insisted that detention for months on end “forces” people to commit things they would normally not do. “The oppression even led a young man to go on the roof and try and hang himself some weeks ago.”

It is a statement some migrants already made on Tuesday during the riot but which was denied by the Home Affairs Ministry.

Asked again yesterday whether there were any suicide attempts at the Safi detention centre since the beginning of the year, a ministry spokesman reiterated that the authorities had no reports of attempted suicides.

Reacting to the claim that the food given to migrants was not good, the spokesman would only say that “the food selection offered to persons in detention centres is rotated on a regular basis”.

But for the Ivorian in Warehouse Two bad food is something he can bear with. “It is freedom that we want, my brother.”

He could not fathom being detained for months on end waiting for the interview with the Refugee Commissioner, only to be detained for up to 18 months after his status is rejected.

“How would it feel if the Maltese people were to escape to Italy because of war in Malta and ended up locked in prison? Can you imagine 18 months in detention? Our people in Africa depend on us for a living.”

Another migrant in Warehouse Two, who would not identify himself, also lamented the fact that they were taken to hospital in handcuffs like criminals.

“When I talk to friends of mine in Italy and tell them about this situation they are shocked because they live in open centres. I can understand Malta is small but we never wanted to come here and we also have human rights,” he said.

The plea for freedom by migrants in detention is nothing new. In terms of Malta’s detention policy, migrants can be confined for a maximum of 18 months and although they can appeal the Refugee Commissioner’s decision on their status, the detention period is non-negotiable.

The government has defended the detention policy, insisting this was necessary given the islands’ limited resources, but Tuesday’s violent actions have prompted a rude awakening of a debate that was only swept under the carpet because migrant arrivals dropped drastically over the past two years.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com