Mallia: we will hold an inquiry

Several migrants are claiming to have been injured and three of them hospitalised following police intervention during a riot at a detention centre on Tuesday, according to refugee agencies.

The claims contradict a statement by the Home Affairs Ministry which said no one was injured and come on the back of several calls for an inquiry into the police conduct.

Speaking on TVM’s Dissett last night, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said an investigation would be carried out to “put people’s minds at rest”.

“NGOs have called for an inquiry and I think that for the sake of peace of mind, this should be carried out,” the minister said, adding this could be either a ministerial or magisterial investigation.

Several detainees involved in the uprising yesterday told Times of Malta that the police were “very violent” when ordered to defuse the riot at Ħal Far.

“When the police came into the building they hurt me, they hit me. Others were hurt too.

“They were violent. It was loud, shouting and hitting,” one detainee said, but was reluctant to comment further, fearing repercussions.

The migrants’ claims contrast with comments made by the Home Affairs Ministry shortly after the uprising.

In a statement, the ministry insisted nobody had been injured and that an ambulance had arrived to take an immigrant “who had fainted” to hospital. Despite this, another detainee contacted by Times of Malta said he was one of three Nigerians to have been hospitalised as a result of the police action.

“I just left the hospital today after I was hurt, me and two others,” he said, adding that he saw others being assaulted with a taser gun as the police action intensified.

It is not clear if any migrants received treatment for such injuries and replies to questions sent to the Health Ministry yesterday were not forthcoming.

The riot is believed to have been sparked by Nigerian migrants whose asylum applications were declined on Monday.

Seven detainees were given a two-year suspended prison sentence after the incident.

This is an inevitable consequence of the detention system

A Home Affairs Ministry spokeswoman said all seven had been in detention for fewer than six months and had all been denied asylum.

Tempers first flared when the Parliamentary Migration Committee arrived.

Their visit to the centre, which was meant to assess living conditions, was cut short when detainees began pounding on the Perspex windows and chanting “freedom”.

Some started hurling bags of sugar and cartons of milk from the third floor windows.

At least two dozen armed riot police officers were seen entering the men’s dormitory building known as Block E, batons raised.

The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) yesterday said it had seen a number of injured migrants during a routine inspection on Wednesday.

Jon Hoisaeter, UNHCR representative to Malta, said he was hardly surprised: “These types of events are an inevitable consequence of Malta’s detention system, which puts asylum seekers and other irregular undocumented migrants behind bars in the same facilities, at times for lengthy periods of time.”

The Jesuit Refugee Service also said it noticed a number of injured people during a routine visit a few hours later.

A JRS spokeswoman said the detainees’ comments raised serious concerns.

“We believe that, wherever there are allegations of excessive use of force or of ill-treatment of detainees, it is indispensable that an independent inquiry is carried out to establish the facts and determine whether the allegations are founded. Only in this way can steps be taken to provide redress, to discipline the perpetrators and to prevent future abuse,” she said.