I could not stop reviewing in disbelief the news clip involving the arrest of a Hungarian national at the Valletta bus terminus without asking myself incessantly: why did things have to escalate and go this far?

Such a sad, demeaning and sorry spectacle!

I cannot empathise enough with the individual and his family. I can perceive the shock, disbelief, trauma and shame the family suffered in having the father so forcefully arrested for trying to promote a semblance of order.

I also feel sort of sorry for the police members involved who must have had good intentions and tried to do their duty to the best of their abilities. And no, I shall not put the officers involved at the end of the proverbial stick and, hence, I have reflected on some of the extraneous circumstances and reasons that could have contributed to the events leading to the forceful arrest.

It had to be a very hot, first day of July and the rather bumpy, to put it mildly, launching of a new public transport tariff and electronic ticketing system. There was a measurable crowd of Maltese nationals, expatriates, refugees and tourists on the receiving end of a morbidly transport problem ‘fix’, perhaps much potent than they have long become customarily accustomed to.

Any project manager worth his mettle would tell you that one must have a fallback plan to counter implementation fallouts and, at worst, be in a position to revert to the old system. Was there one and if so was this resorted to? Did anyone think of and plan to cater for the vulnerability of those affected, albeit regular public transport dependent users, should things not go as planned.

And what about the, as yet, faceless woman who is alleged to have insulted the Hungarian national by having resorted to despicable acts and words, only to deftly disappear from the rumpus created and leave the other participants in this incident licking their wounds?

I cannot but interpret what she is alleged to have told the man as an overt display of racial prejudice, selfish attitude and irrational generalisation. But, then, she could have felt offended by his apparent beseeching and took it upon herself to defend the Maltese race from these insults.

How can you explain to a foreigner that that is how we, the undisciplined, sometimes queue in Malta?

There are then those in the crowd who remained passive silent bystanders, possibly silently consenting and their non-action could be construed to encourage racist behaviour.

Police members may have to use force and may use physical restraint to gain control of an unruly person or situation. But did the Hungarian put so much forceful resistance that warranted having three men struggling and scuffling to pin him to the ground and then handcuff him?

Did the police members have time to read his facial expressions or pay heed to what he or his wife was pleading? And why did they have to push his head to the ground with his backpack when he was already pinned downed?

Were there no other public officials present who could have alerted the RIU members on the true facts of the incident, as they should have done?

I have on purpose left the Hungarian man to the last on my list.

He too must have been flustered at having to wait, some said for hours, in an excuse of a queue to procure transport means for a 10-minute journey.

On his now apparent mistimed volition, he decided to communicate his astonishment by asking the crowd in his own perhaps peculiar, yet certainly courageous manner, on how to form a true and proper queue. It is evident from the clip that the man had a timid demeanour, could speak our second language and shows utter disbelief verging on the incredulous, even trying to explain what he had not done and protest his innocence.

On the other side of the coin, I can perceive some more sensitive people as interpreting the way he was explaining how a queue should function as an affront. And it must be acknowledged that, taken out of context, having a foreigner, no matter what race, explaining in the most basic English how to queue could be insulting and/or ludicrous.

Yes, I would stress that in such cases the rule of law should always prevail. But, once again, how can you explain to a foreigner that that is how we, the undisciplined, sometimes queue in Malta?

What happened will eventually become history, perhaps an afterthought to some, but isn’t this an eye-opener to all of us?

Think of how people unaware of our good qualities will interpret and react to our behaviour in such situations. And what about the ensuing harm to the image of the country and its people?