Daboma Jack said today he saw the fear in the eyes of other black people gathered at the Valletta Bus terminus on Wednesday who did nothing while he was racially assaulted and arrested.

“I saw them, the other black people gathered there, they just looked at me but didn’t do anything. They had a look of fear in their eyes. They wanted to do something but couldn’t,” he said.

The black Hungarian student met with Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli today who apologised “on behalf of the Maltese” after he was spat at and slapped by an unknown woman and then later arrested by a team of police officers.

They discussed the way forward in terms of inclusion and fighting racial abuse.

Mr Jack was attacked as he was trying to organise a queue during the flopped launch of the tallinja bus card system.

The worst part of the incident, Mr Jack said, was that many Maltese were glad he had been arrested. This, he said, was only due to the colour of his skin.

“I cried when I heard people cheering. They were clapping because I was arrested, even though they saw that I hadn’t done anything wrong,” he said.

Speaking to Times of Malta yesterday, Dr Dalli said the behaviour of the police, judging by the news reports, was uncalled for.

“I think that the reaction was disproportionate. In actual fact, I think there should have been no reaction at all, because from what I read and saw, he was organising the queue. No one deserves this treatment – but even more if he was teaching us how to form a queue,” she said. 

The woman has still not been identified, although the police were reportedly given anonymous information about her. 

An internal police investigation is under way. The police yesterday said no police officers had been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry. 

NEED FOR POLICE TRAINING EMPHASISED

Video: Chris Sant Fournier

Asked this morning how he will be addressing the issue, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said police had to be somewhat more careful as to how they faced and dealt with situations.

This was something that would come with training, he said adding that the government was to come up with proposals to strengthen training for all members of disciplinary forces in the coming weeks.

He said that although the police behaviour on Wednesday may have been misplaced, he preferred to wait for the outcome of the investigation before making further comments.

Referring to court case in which a man who accused the police of beating him up admitted to lying under oath, Mr Abela pointed out it was important to ensure that no false accusations were made against the police as this might lead them not to use the right action when this was needed.

More in Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.