Five accused of rioting at Safi detention centre

Five Sudanese men were charged with rioting at the Safi detention centre after a peaceful protest turned violent.

The incident took place on Wednesday when migrants had begun to protest inside the centre demanding their release.

The peaceful protests started late morning but dragged on to the night. News reports say the situation appeared to have been worse than previous incidents, with members of the police force at the scene until the early hours.

Armed Forces of Malta soldiers had been on standby to intervene if the situation escalated.

On Friday afternoon, Abdul Latif Ali Sherif, 29, Ismaile Idris, 25, Njumi Mohamed, 30, Oshieko Noor Alameen, 26, Hassan Mohammed Hassan, 30, all from Sudan appeared before Magistrate Simone Grech.

They were charged with unlawful assembly, public violence, while armed, forming a tumultuous assembly, disobeying orders for dispersion, causing damage worth over €2,500, making threats against public officers, carrying a weapon during the commission of a crime. They were also charged with breaching the peace.

Prosecuting police inspector Trevor Micallef said that, amongst other things, the five had pulled a large gate off its hinges and used it to climb up containers “and shout that they want freedom”.

“The more journalists there are, the better for them,” said the inspector.

Riots were becoming a daily occurrence, he explained, adding that “because they don’t know any better, they smashed the place up”. 

Migrants have held several protests over the past few weeks, demanding they be released from detention.

In the latest incident on Wednesday, the five men had taken up metal objects, knives and other makeshift weapons to challenge security forces, the inspector explained.

Defence lawyer Victor Bugeja entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the men, but did not request bail. The five were remanded in custody.