A man in an enraged mob pointed a firearm at the Armed Forces commander after he was forced to jump into the sea during the Freedom Day parade in 1989, according to a new claim made today.

During the melee, Chris Agius, who was then president of the Għaqda Żgħażagħ Soċjalisti, says he had to partially deflect a sword blow, struck at the head of John Spiteri, who was then also acting police commissioner. 

In an opinion piece in today's Times of Malta, Mr Agius, recalls the chaos which ensued during the parade on the Vittoriosa waterfront and the way he believed he helped save the commander's life.

"He was still in a state of shock but recognised me. I was observing the enraged mob on the shore, including an angry-looking man, who was pointing a firearm and yelling at me to get out of the line of fire. I merely shook my head in refusal and kept my station, covering the injured Spiteri. Thankfully, not a shot was fired."

The incident was sparked off when the Freedom Day march began to blare from the overlying speakers placed by the Malta Labour Party, which had been unseated from power two years earlier. 

"The parade turned into a shambles. I saw tears in the eyes of some of the soldiers at the humiliation. The watching crowd jeered.

"A roar of anger erupted and the crowd surged forward towards the unpopular figure. The troop contingent, too small to protect their commander, was overrun. There was no other option for the colonel but to jump off the Freedom Monument wharf and into the sea, to escape serious injury or worse. I could see he was still stunned by the blows he had sustained," Mr Agius wrote.

Eventually the crowd calmed down and order was restored, but the incident goers down as one of the most serious and embarrassing for the AFM. 

The former AFM commander died in 2011.