The land of love and freedom

Even today, the Times carried out reports on the current tense situation at Safi Barracks, following Thursday's peaceful protests which turned bloody when the Army intervened. Today's reports say that after the morning incidents the immigrants at Safi staged another protest, and the Army reported that a soldier was badly hurt after stones were thrown at armed personnel by the immigrants.

I must say that I am not surprised by this. What really drew my attention was the aftermath of the protests and comments made by Maltese citizens regarding the issue.

The most appalling incident was the refusal of the Army to let anyone near the immigrants who were hospitalised. Michele Manca de Nissa, a UNHCR high official who happened to be visiting Malta, was not allowed near the injured immigrants. de Nissa was quoted as saying that the guards at the entrance of ward MS2 at St Luke's Hospital simply turned him away telling him that no one was allowed in the ward. Neither were the lawyers acting on behalf of the Jesuit Refugee Service given permission to talk to their hospitalised clients. This was even worse! When eventually these lawyers were granted permission, the guards were ordered to accompany them and take down notes of whatever was said between lawyers and clients. The abominable way these immigrants were treated after being beaten elicits very bad memories of a not so distant past.

A number of organisations issued statements in reaction to the bloody incidents at Hal Safi. What amazed was the statement released by the Christian Democrat Students' Movement (SDM). The democratic students of Christian inspiration had the audacity to "commend the AFM personnel for their work and augurs that such incidents shall not occur frequently" [my italics.]

The Times issued reports of reactions by a number of Maltese citizens too. Most noteworthy was the reaction of a soldier's wife who was quoted as saying that she is constantly worried about her husband's safety since he has been posted at Safi Barracks. This lady reported that the immigrants are a constant threat to the soldiers guarding them, often turning violent and are a dangerous lot.

All this results from the carelessness and gross mishandling of the issue by the Maltese Government. One simply cannot cram hundreds of people who left their war torn countries, faced peril at sea and now the bleakest of futures, in a confined space and expect them to stay put until god knows when, without even informing them of what their situation is.

In this whole issue, the Maltese government seems to have overseen one very simple fact: immigrants are human beings.