Updated 8.55pm with video

Dozens of activists and migrants called for the eradication of racial inequality as they gathered in Valletta on Saturday evening to call for a stop to injustice following the recent incidents.

Protestors carried placards during the demonstration organised by Aditus Foundation and with the support of Moviment Graffitti and other NGOs.

“My dream is that all of us residents of this country are judged for our character, not for our surname or the colour of our skin,” Omar Rababah told those present.

“Racism is a social construct and we can eradicate it with education, dialogue and empathy. But we need politicians to step up and be willing to change the system. Because so far, they’re not.”

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Rababah, a social worker, along with around a hundred other people gathered in De Vallette Square to protest against politicians’ “silence” to reports of racial violence and the institutions’ lack of will to eradicate systemic racism.

Rababah said Malta does not show the same level of solidarity to all its victims of assault. If the victims are black, the outrage is far softer, people do not care as much and politicians only do the bare minimum to condemn the alleged assaults.

Last month, three police officers were charged in court with violently assaulting black people.

“Saying an incident is ‘disgusting’ is not enough,” Rababah said with reference to Prime Minister Robert Abela’s comments after a video was published earlier this week showing two Transport Malta officials beating a man on the ground.

“If you are inside a stinky room, it’s not enough to say that the smell is disgusting. You must do your utmost to clear the stench.”

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

He also called out Abela for only thanking the Maltese people for their efforts and resilience during the pandemic during last year’s Christmas message.

“All those migrant workers who continued to work during the pandemic and who brought food to our doors every day didn’t also deserve a ‘thank you’? Didn’t they also make an effort?” he said, adding that migrants were also the last to take the COVID vaccine.

“Migrants are not just pieces of meat that we milk for our benefit. Like us, they are all humans.”

Treated with suspicion

Ahmed Abdul said that despite working, paying taxes and living in Malta for many years, many law-abiding migrants continue to be treated by the Maltese authorities with great suspicion.

“Some of us have been paying tax and social security for more than 10 years and we are still treated like we arrived in Malta today,” he said.

“We have nothing. And those of us who are in a detention centre have it even worse. Those places are like prisons.”

Ahmed Karim Abdul said that after 17 years in Malta, he is still forced to apply for one year-residency permits every year.

“I’m not saying I expect to become a Maltese citizen. I would just like the opportunity to apply for long-term residency,” he said.

“And one other thing that’s happening now is that some landlords are outrightly refusing to rent us places with a contract. If we don’t have a contract we can’t apply for a residency permit and if landlords continue to refuse to rent with a contract, we may end up in the street, because Identity Malta will not issue our permit without a contract.”

Those present held banners with the slogans 'Black Lives Matter', 'There’s no us and them', “'Justice for Lassana' and 'Being black is not a crime', among others. 

About two dozen of them held a string of posters showing a timeline of pictures, dates and descriptions of racially motivated incidents that happened in Malta from 2002 till this year. The string of posters stretched along an entire side of De Vallette Square.

“The government has the power to make life easier for us,” Ahmed Karim Abdul insisted.

“We are pleading to the authorities to go deep into our cases and have mercy.”