A theatre-goer who saved a bus driver from potentially serious injury when he was attacked by a passenger has recounted how he witnessed both savagery and racism in the incident.
The bus driver was attacked by a passenger near the old Gzira stadium yesterday evening.
Malta Public Transport deplored the aggression on the driver.
Stanley Cassar Darien had been driving to the Mediterranean Conference Centre on his motorcycle to watch Sleeping Beauty when a Spanish young lady started screaming and pleading for help because, she said, someone was being ‘murdered’ on a bus.
“I stopped my bike, ran to the bus and found a crazed and heavily intoxicated young man choking the bus driver.
“I called 112 and at the same time tried to calm down the aggressor, eventually succeeding in pulling him off the driver and separating them.
“I asked the aggressor to sit on the bus and was just waiting for the police to show up. After about two minutes the bus driver, a foreigner, got off the bus and the Maltese aggressor then tried to attack him again.
“I tried to hold him back again and asked another man (probably of North African descent) to help me. We managed to restrain him until the police showed up. We handed the aggressor to them and then I had to speed off to watch the ballet with my dad.”
Mr Cassar Darien said the incident happened when the passenger was asked to pay his fare, and he thought the ride was free (probably because of UHM directives which were later cancelled.)
The aggressor was so violent that he felt the need to strike him, Mr Cassar Darien said, but the officers on the 112 line warned him not to do so as that would land him in trouble. He then managed to restrain him, with help.
SHOCKING RACISM
He said that what shocked him, apart from the assault itself, was racism by the aggressor and some passengers.
The aggressor repeatedly shouted out that he would not be told what to do in his country by a foreigner, and that such foreigners were not needed.
Even worse, some passengers came up but when they saw that the driver was foreign, they did not offer help but walked away.
“It was a disgrace, worse than a disgrace,” Mr Cassar Darien said.
“I hope that the bus driver is better, he looked really shocked,” he said.
The driver suffered slight facial injuries.
MPT DEPLORES AGRESSION
In a statement this morning, MPT deplored the aggression and said it did not tolerate any form of abuse and violence on its employees.
"The company will be cooperating with the police in any investigation that will be carried out to apprehend and prosecute the aggressor."
It said that all its buses were equipped with CCTV cameras which would help it and the police fight such unacceptable abuse on its employees.
"We take violence and abuse on our employees extremely seriously. We encourage members of the public and our employees to report cases of verbal and physical abuse immediately. We empathise with the bus driver who was carrying out his duty and will be offering our full support.
"We would also like to thank Mr Cassar Darien, the public and the police who intervened in helping the driver," commercial director Daniel Grech said.