On November 8 I was in Paceville with a Ugandan friend, who has been living in Malta all his life. He is black, and unfortunately because of this he cannot move freely in and out of bars and clubs as I did as a teenager.

At about 12.15 a.m. we tried to enter a bar called Republik. I went in but a bouncer stopped my friend.

When I asked what was wrong, the bouncer quickly replied: "We don't let blacks and Arabs in!" adding that it was an order from management.

I said I would report the incident but he didn't seem to mind this (probably because he knew it wouldn't be taken seriously).

My friend was not angry or surprised in the least. This was not the first time it happened to him. I went to the police van in Paceville and told a police officer there. His reaction was one of complacency and passivity.

He just said it was not his 'department'. He said he couldn't even take the report because he didn't have a computer, so he told me to go to the St Julian's police station.

Another black man from Nigeria overheard me talking to police and told me that the same thing had just happened to him, only in another place. So this clearly is not a one-off incident.

This is happening in nearly all the clubs and bars in Paceville. What shall we call it? Segregated entertainment or nightlife for the few? What if we apply this rule to any foreigner who comes to Malta? After all, a foreigner is different and what managements are scared of when they don't allow blacks and Arabs inside their clubs is just that. Aren't Spanish or Russian youths different to Maltese? Shall we leave all the English-language students who come to Malta in the summer out in the cold? No, we don't, because they're not black.

My friend did not accompany me to the police station, where I went to report the incident. I gave all the details.

The police officer took down some notes using pen and paper, no computer required (as the other policeman had told me). He simply remarked that since my friend did not come to the police station no action could be taken. Had he done so, he continued, the police would have gone to the bar and asked the management why they were doing this.

So does that mean that stopping Arabs and black people entering into clubs is justified? And is it because they might cause trouble? I cannot keep count of the numerous times I saw Maltese starting a fight in a club, or English people fighting in a pub.

I feel very strongly against racism and this is not easy in a country where the police force is complacent about racism.

Who shall I turn to for solidarity and support when the institutions meant to protect citizens take no action when immigrants are involved?

This incident would not have been tolerated by the authorities in any other European country. I am not saying that racism doesn't exist outside Malta but there are measures in place to try and prevent it. If we are to take our EU membership seriously then we have to apply EU laws on discrimination and racism.