As I was researching online the number of chapels in Żejtun, I came across the Wikipedia site about the town ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Żejtun ). While on the whole it is very well done and researched, I was shocked to read the following, which I quote verbatim, in the final paragraph in the History section:

“During the last 50 years, the town has been known for fervent political rivalry which culminated in 1987, with an infamous riot involving supporters of the Malta Labour Party being attacked by Nationalist Party supporters taking place in the main road approaching the town, known as Tal-Barrani, when the Nationalists were blocked and gassed by police from doing a meeting in Żejtun after they allegedly rolled leaky gas tanks downhill as an attack on the officers and people of Żejtun.”

That somebody, presumably from Zejtun, and obviously a Labour supporter, is trying to write and change recent history is shocking and disgusting. What happened in Żejtun on November 30, 1986, was disgraceful for the government of the time, the police force and those Labour supporters (some covering their faces with MLP flags) who attacked fellow Maltese men, women and children. Many were hurt. And it was all about the Nationalist Party’s right to hold a mass meeting in Żejtun.

According to the entry in Wikipedia, the MLP supporters were attacked by PN supporters. Had that been the case, what were Labour supporters doing at Tal-Barrani in the first place? Defending the borders of Żejtun from families that were walking peacefully to ‘invade’ their town?

Many schoolchildren look up Wikipedia for information but in this case they are getting a distorted version of events. One of the saddest episodes of political violence in recent history is being twisted for partisan ends. Shame on whoever sent this information to Wikipedia.