Black Monday, A Night of Mob Violence, a new book by former Times of Malta editor Victor Aqulina, will be launched by the Kite Group on Tuesday at the National Library – Bibliotheca, Republic Square, Valletta.

On the 40th anniversary of what became known as Black Monday, the book is a first-hand account of the burning down by Labour Party thugs of The Times building on October 15, 1979, and the ransacking of Nationalist Party leader Eddie Fenech Adami’s home on the same evening.

The book also gives the background to the troubled relationship between the Times of Malta and the Labour Party, and goes into some length into the shooting at Castille on the morning of October 15, 1979.

In the words of law and media professor Kevin Aquilina, Black Monday symbolises a breakdown of the high virtues of the rule of law, democracy and freedom of the press.

Victor Aquilina is also the author of Strickland House, The Standard-Bearers and Launching of the Times of Malta, Book One: 1921–1935 (2010); Strickland House, Times of Malta at War and Labour Party’s Sweeping Victory, Book Two: 1935–1947 (2015), and Lord Strickland: Plots and Intrigue in Colonial Malta (2019).

During the same event, another Kite Group publication, entitled Navigating the Maltese Mediascape, will also be launched. It is edited by Joseph Borg and Mary Anne Lauri.

The guest speaker at the event is Petra Caruana Dingli.

The double book launch will be held tomorrow at 7pm at the National Library – Bibliotheca, Republic Square, Valletta. For more information, call 2709 0666 or e-mail info@kitegroup.com.mt. To watch a video and photos taken after the attacks, visit https://vimeo.com/359736688.

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