Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1178700
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 OCTOBER 2019 3 NEWS CONTINUED FRON PAGE 1 The eight men who have been ac- cused of being the ringleaders — Al Hassin Issa Al Amin, 21, from Chad, Zakria Mohammed, 19, from Central African Republic, Yusef Mutasin from Sudan, Ibrahim Ali, 20, from Sudan, Hammad Abubaida, 22, from Sudan, Ibrahim Bahar from Sudan, Oboke Cletus Chikadibia, 20, from Nigeria and a 16-year-old from Chad — were accused of carrying out the acts of vio- lence during the riot. Senior inspector Melvyn Camilleri charged them with violently resisting the police, slightly injuring one officer, forming part of an illegal assembly, failing to disperse when ordered to, conspiracy to commit a crime punish- able with imprisonment, arson, volun- tary damage, disturbing the repose of persons during the night time, breach- ing the peace, disobeying legitimate orders, threatening a number of public officers, throwing stones and a hard object. A protection order was request- ed in favour of three police officers. The arraignment of the migrants in- volved in the riot took place over three groups, with one further group to be arraigned tomorrow. The ringleaders and men accused of assaulting police officers were arraigned separately. In the first group, 14 migrants were sentenced to six weeks detention after they pleaded guilty to disobeying law- ful orders and willfully disturbing the public good order and peace. The other six of the first group who were arraigned pleaded not guilty but were denied bail. Handcuffed to each other in threes, the first group sat in Hall 22 of the law courts waiting for the interpreters to be found. Proceedings finally began at around 1:45pm. Inspectors Roderick Attard, Eman Hayman and Oriana Spiteri read out the charges against the first tranche of 20 migrants. These individuals, from Somalia, Senegal, Guinea, Gambia, Eri- trea, Nigeria, Chad and Sudan, entered their pleas to charges of disobeying lawful orders and "wilfully disturbing the public good order and peace." The second group of men numbered 24 individuals in total, all from Sudan and were arraigned at around 3pm on the same charges as the first group. 22 of them pleaded not guilty. Two men admitted to the charges. Their ages ranged from 15 to 38. The two who pleaded guilty were given sentences of six weeks imprison- ment. The court denied bail to the rest, recommending that the five under-18s be held at the Young Offenders Unit (YOURS) at the request of the defence. After judgment was handed down, two men wanted to change their plea to a guilty plea but were instructed to tell it to the magistrate assigned their compilation of evidence. Their time in preventive custody would be deducted from their eventual sentence. A third group of 25 men, all from Su- dan, were arraigned at 4pm on identi- cal charges to the previous two groups. All 25 pleaded not guilty to the charges. They were also denied bail, the court giving the same reasons as in the previ- ous arraignments. Three men resident at the Hal Far open centre were charged separately since they were accused of assault- ing two police officers and a support worker. The men are Abdalla Muhammed Abdalla, 20, from Chad, a 16-year-old from Sudan, and a 17-year-old from Nigeria. The names of the minors can- not be mentioned by court order. The three were prevented from enter- ing the open centre on Sunday night af- ter returning back drunk. They caused mayhem and police had to be called in. The incident led to the violent riot that ended up with five cars being burnt, stones pelted at support work- ers and offices ransacked. The three men pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court remanded them in custody. Inspector Melvyn Camilleri prose- cuted and Simon Micallef Stafrace was defence counsel. Magistrate Doreen Clarke was pre- siding. 80 rioting migrants charged in court All rioters were handcuffed to others while being transported to court DAVID HUDSON PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat harshly criticised the Opposition yes- terday as he manifestly showed his ag- gravation at hate speech making the rounds online. "Let's think things through before we open our mouths," Muscat said, leering at the members of the Opposi- tion across the House of Representa- tives. Muscat, who was responding to the Opposition leader's Monday reaction to the 2020 budget, dedicated at least 15 minutes on the topic of Sunday's Hal Far riots and the rising racist sen- timents in the country. He said that the Opposition was contributing to an 'us-versus-them' mentality when it comes to asylum seekers. Muscat admitted that when he in- voked a pushback policy back in 2013, he was wrong and he regretted his de- cision and his words. "I was mistaken when it comes to the pushback, yes, but I warn the Op- position not to repeat my mistake. I appeal to parents watching me on TV right now—if a person is drowning in the Mediterranean, would you save them? Moving on to the economy, Muscat said that Malta is a top performer and a country that is making mammoth strides of success when compared to the rest of the world. Contrary to what Delia had claimed, Malta had continued to enjoy con- stant investments in various sectors, he said. "According to Opposition Leader Adrian Delia, not one license was is- sued in terms of blockchain firms.17 Virtual Financial Assets licenses were issued to blockchain companies and these are already in operation. A fur- ther five licenses have been issued for system auditors," Muscat said, adding that 154 companies were already of- fering exchange services. Muscat referred to 50 letters of in- tent that the Maltese government had received in terms of medical cannabis production and that in the first three years of operation, this sector will contribute to 1,000 new workplaces. In response to Delia's criticism of the government, that it had not invested in any new sectors, Muscat said that Artificial Intelligence and the Inter- net of Things were just a couple of sectors that were completely new and that the government's strategy was devoted to and keen about. "With regards to the gaming sec- tor, in one year, employment has in- creased in this sector by 10%," Muscat said, adding that Gozo was also part of the government's economic plan as it was currently enjoying an econom- ic rhythm that was 2% higher than in Malta and that was newly catering for 800 new jobs. "Malta is a top performer. Classified as the second-most stable country in terms of the economy in all the world. And for the fifth year running, Malta will see a budgetary surplus, the sec- ond highest surplus in the EU. We are on par with Germany." Muscat warns against rising online hate speech, highlights government's success Budget 2020