The Migrants Network for Equality and various NGOs are to hold a protest in Valletta on Wednesday over treatment in detention centres.

Members of the group said at a press conference at City Gate that they wanted to show the people how they are treated.

A member of the group said they are treated 'like animals' and claimed that they were beaten in the centre and in Detention Service vans whenever they protested.

"We have no rights," he protested.

Osman Dicko, a member of the network, said there were many cases of arbitrary beatings which were never reported. He said that whenever soldiers were challenged, migrants were beaten and then in hospital it was said that the migrants bumped into something.

He said there was one case, some years ago, when migrants were handcuffed and placed in the yard at 5 a.m. and left there until 1 p.m. This had happened, he said, in the presence of senior Detention Service officers.

He said, however, that the abusive soldiers were few, and the protest was about inhuman conditions in general. He said the government should revise the Detention policy and improve conditions. Furthermore whenever inquiries were held, the migrants should be able to testify.

He called for better training for Detention Centre staff and said educational courses should be held for migrants in detention. The Network, he said, had offered to hold such courses but had not been allowed.

"We want good relations with the Maltese," he said. "Detention is making the Maltese think we are criminals," he said.