The incident at the Valletta bus terminus on Wednesday was a stark reminder of what is wrong with a section of Maltese society.

A well-educated chemical engineer from Hungary was spat at and slapped by by members of the public before being brutally manhandled by Maltese police as he tried to persuade people to queue at the bus station. A black man from a faraway land who is not welcome in Malta was spat at, slapped and manhandled by the police for behaving in a threatening manner.

The first sentence is a blood-curdling fact. The second is an assumption of the attitudes that seemed to take hold at the bus terminus as the new bus card scheme got off to a disastrous start.

That bus card debacle should have been the story as the service was in chaos. But, instead, the story centred on one man, who happens to be black, who displayed more civility than a number of people from this country.

There are two points to this sorry incident. Firstly, what happened confirms that some Maltese seem to possess a misguided sense of superiority, probably stemming from the small island mentality. It was very sad to hear in the videoed footage of the incident other Maltese egging on the woman who took umbrage at the man for trying to instil some order. And even more pitiful was the spectacle of people applauding as the officers pinned down the Hungarian.

How long are we going to continue to hear locals telling foreigners to go back to their country?

For 11 years, Malta has been a member of a European bloc which promotes freedom of movement. Tourism remains the backbone of our economy, so it is shocking that the first thing that comes to mind whenever we believe a foreigner has done wrong is to instruct him to go back.

Though unforgiveable, those people’s actions at the bus terminus on Wednesday are not the most shocking thing to have taken place. That dubious honour goes to the police who, as is all too often the case, especially when it comes to foreign nationals, were heavy handed to the extreme.

According to reports, a policeman on site who witnessed the entire spectacle just stood by and did nothing. Not only did he fail to take action against the Maltese woman who slapped the Hungarian but failed to stop the injustice when, shortly after, three RIU officers arrived on scene, wrestled the student to the ground and handcuffed him. It was a spectacle of injustice and sadly reinforced perceptions and stereotypes that black people are a threat.

An inquiry into the incident has been ordered and the police have apologised. It is not enough. Pending the outcome of the inquiry, action should already have been taken against the policeman on site as well as the RIU officers who were clearly heavy-handed.

The police should be respected but that does not mean they are always right. On the contrary, we are seeing too many stories recently that question the validity, professionalism or even integrity of some of our officers.

The Prime Minister cannot continue to remain silent when he is faced with glaring incidents that have clear racist/xenophobic undertones.

Following the recent black killings in the US, as well as other incidents involving the police, American President Barack Obama had no qualms in expressing his concern about racism in his country as well as the discrimination infiltrating the police force.

The fact that the police are wearing a uniform should not make them immune to criticism. The incident on Wednesday should not be repeated.