Allied Newspapers Limited employees on Monday marked the 39th anniversary of Black Monday, when the offices of the Times of Malta in Valletta were burned down during a Labour demonstration.

A group of Socialist thugs went on a rampage on October 15, 1979 and burnt down the building in St Paul’s Street, since vacated, before ransacking the home of then Opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami in Birkirkara.

The mob forced its way into newspaper’s building destroying everything in their path and setting the premises on fire. Workers were lucky to escape uninjured, climbing down ladders from windows at the back of the burning building. Still, the Times of Malta was out on the newsstands as usual the following morning.

The Socialist thugs also attacked Nationalist Party clubs in Valletta and Floriana before proceeding to Dr Fenech Adami’s home, destroying furniture and assaulting his late wife, Mary, and terrorising his children, who escaped by jumping onto their neighbours’ roofs.

Fr William Bartolo  said Mass at the offices of the Times of Malta in Mrieħel.