Today marks the 30th anniversary of Black Monday 1979, the day when The Times building in Valletta was torched to the ground in the most violent political attack against a media organisation in Malta.

Socialist thugs then went on a rampage, attacking Eddie Fenech Adami’s home and family in Birkirkara and a number of PN clubs. The incident happened during what was supposed to be a demonstration during the opening of Parliament after the summer recess.

In the morning of the same day, a man was arrested by the police after an incident at the Auberge de Castille. The man had reportedly been carrying a firearm when he went to speak to then Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, but was stopped by security officers. Shots were fired in the building and the man was injured. The Prime Minister was not in danger.

The documentary above recalls the violence in the afternoon of that day 30 years ago.

The anniversary documentary is narrated through the eyes of five of the protagonists of the day of violence – former editors Victor Aquilina and Charles Grech Orr, former managing directors Ronald Agius and Wilfred Asciak as well as Mary Fenech Adami.