The recent police crackdown in Marsa led to the arrest of more Maltese than migrants and will soon be repeated in a number of other “problem localities”, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
The police presence in the harbour town increased considerably last month following weeks of rising racial and social tensions that led to residents and far-right activists holding a protest rally on the streets of Marsa, urging the authorities to restore order.
The police later swooped in on the area, carrying out raids and patrols that prompted concerns of racial profiling from NGOs and the migrant community.
READ: Marsa migrants confounded by increase in police patrols
Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia said that while there may have been increased attention on the activities of African migrants in the area, arrest figures dispelled any myths that police officers were focusing exclusively on skin colour.
“When it comes to criminality, we actually caught more Maltese lawbreakers than migrants and we caught a number of European migrants who will be facing charges too,” he said.
Dr Farrugia said the intensification of police activity in the town had been so successful that similar initiatives were planned for other troublesome localities across the island. He stopped short of identifying them.
The former social solidarity minister, now in charge of crime prevention, said it was Maltese nationals, not migrants, who were behind the most serious criminal cases uncovered in Marsa in the recent crackdown.
READ: Bulletproof vests, automatic weapons and a drone for Marsa raid
African migrants, he said, were mostly reprimanded for minor issues such as being drunk and disorderly, loitering or public indecency.
This seems to tally with the findings of government fieldwork conducted in recent months as part of a soon-to-be-released migrant integration policy.
The policy will introduce an integration unit to offer courses to migrants in the Maltese and English languages and in local culture, laws, and customs.
Government sources told this newspaper that a sociological study of the situation in Marsa had exposed that residents’ main concerns were linked to public order. “What we found was that the complaints of most Marsa residents were similar to, say, those who live in Paceville, where drinking, loitering and petty crime are more common than in most other parts of the island,” a source said.
A number of visits to Marsa by this newspaper in recent weeks also revealed a similar sentiment among residents and local business owners.
“Look, it’s not about skin colour, the troublemakers could be white for all I care. How would you like to find human faeces on your doorstep? Or a group of drunk people roaming the streets where you live? I don’t think it’s too much to ask to want to feel safe in your town,” said one resident, a mother of two teenage girls.
Others said the “behavioural problems” had improved following the increased police presence.
In a working man’s bar not far from the Marsa Open Centre, a dozen or so Maltese labourers, delivery men and other Maltese patrons sipped their early morning tea and coffee.
Outside on the street, migrants lined the tarmac waiting to be picked up for a day of undeclared labour in fields and construction sites across the island.
In the bar, the phrase “Huma ikkalmaw issa” [They have calmed down now] was the popular wisdom on the situation in Marsa today. Most felt that the police patrols, raids and random searches had sent the message that “unacceptable behaviour” would not be tolerated.
But on the other side of the street, questions about the clamp-down got a mixed reception. Some migrants said that police had harassed them simply for being black men in Marsa, while others drew on their experience with law enforcers prior to arriving in Malta – experiences of abuse and misconduct.
Others, on the other hand, said they wanted nothing to do with criminal elements in the migrant community and simply wanted to fly under the radar.
“Why am I special? You are Maltese and you go to work. Are you a criminal? No.
“I want to work and live my life. To improve my situation and nothing more,” said a migrant who was waiting for work on a street corner.
Recent arrests in Marsa
29 Maltese
21 Sub-Saharan Africans
2 North Africans
2 British
1 Syrian
1 Italian