Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/874823
8 A 'solidarity walk' with the peo- ple of Marsa is being held to- day under the backdrop of what seems like a daily barrage of new reports of crimes committed by African migrants in the locality. The organisers of the walk have said their intention is to draw the government's attention to a problem that must be addressed. But the planned presence of far- right activists has deterred some from attending, including the mayors of a number of neigh- bouring localities who had previ- ously planned to take part. "There is a problem in Marsa and it is getting worse," said Mehrabi Ghebar, an Eritrean migrant who spoke with Malta- Today, in the hope of finding a solution. "People complain about im- migrants but nobody gives a so- lution. I have been in Malta for 12 years so I feel I have a respon- sibility to find one, even if you have not given me citizenship," he insisted. Ghebar no longer lives in Marsa himself but said one of the rea- sons the situation has deterio- rated, is because of a higher cost of living and rental prices which have skyrocketed in recent years. "It's 6 or 7 o'clock, where do they go? You don't have a house or a home. You go to Marsa! You drink and you sleep," he said. Marsa residents who spoke to this newspaper but did not wish to be named, described their frustration at seeing people passed out in playgrounds, say- ing they felt uncomfortable let- ting their children play outside. One woman claimed she often saw needles in public spaces and a second claimed she had once been chased home by a migrant and had resorted to send her child to catechism classes in Qormi. "I don't want to leave Marsa but we need to be heard so that we can return to a state of nor- mality once again," she said. Ghebar also said many mi- grants from Africa had reached a state of hopelessness, causing them to fall victim to drugs and crime. "If you work, like me, you want to sleep after work. Had I not had an appointment with you I would be asleep. Why should I go to Marsa?" he asked. "If you are hopeless you don't care. They all drink, they find Maltese people who know how to find and sell drugs, and even- tually they start to go to Paceville and sell there." This feeling of hopelessness was to a large extent rooted in the fact that many migrants have been living in a state of limbo for over a decade, Ghebar says, often being denied full legal sta- tus, along with its accompanying rights. "You have to be mentally strong to cope. We have lost many good people to Marsa. Be- fore they didn't smoke, now they are in Marsa smoking hashish," he claimed. Ghebar recounted how some years back he had requested asy- lum in Switzerland. At the same time, he said, another migrant whom he knew, who was also in Malta, had successfully left Mal- ta, and the two arrived in Swit- zerland at the same time. "We requested asylum together and they saw from our finger- prints that we had arrived in Malta, so they asked the Maltese government about both of us." According to Ghebar, authori- ties in Malta asked for him to be sent back but did not take his friend back, on the basis of him having broken the law to escape. Ghebar believes that he was not allowed to stay in Switzerland because he had always paid his taxes and social security, unlike his friend. "He is lucky, he is now with his family. Because I did the right thing, I was brought back," he said, adding that unlike in other EU countries, in Malta he did not have a right to bring his family or to travel to see them because he does not have "strong enough documents". 12 years in the making Central to the problem with Marsa is the open centre for asylum seekers, opened in 2005. At the time it was hoped that this shuttered trade school, it- self having fallen below expecta- tions, could serve as a halfway- house for migrants released from detention. But at the start, it was clear that asylum seekers detained for anything up to 18 months in Safi, would be hard- ened by the unwelcome recep- tion Malta had given them. Ghebar said that with the in- famous New Tiger Bar right next door – a Maltese-owned establishment already notori- ous in Marsa, now rented out to expatriates from the area – the necessary action wasn't taken to prevent it becoming a "criminal centre". "There is only one wall sepa- rating them. You go out of the centre and you're in the bar," Ghebar said of the neighbouring watering hole. The bar's owner also rents out rooms in the build- ings surrounding the bar, which have developed into a complex that includes bars, barbers and a tailor. "There is gambling, fighting with glass, all sorts of things," he said. "The police come, they know about everything but they don't close it. If a place of that size were to be operating any- maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2017 News POST OF PARLIAMENTARY USHER I AT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The Clerk of the House of Representatives invites applications for the post of Parliamentary Usher I. Details concerning the conditions, duties, eligibility requirements, selection and submission of applications can be found in the call for applications which may be downloaded from the website of the Parliament of Malta at the following address http://parlament.mt or collected from the Resource and Facilities Section, House of Representatives, Freedom Square, Valletta VLT 1111. Applications, together with the relative documentation, will be received by the House of Representatives by not later than noon (CET), Friday, 29 September 2017, or submitted electronically on dcs@parlament.mt. REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS FOR THE PROVISION OF CATERING SERVICES FOR THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COMMISSION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Quotations must be submitted by registered Economic Operators. QUOTATION REFERENCE NUMBER: CDV/01/2017 Date Published: 04.09.17 Deadline for Submission: 19.09.17 at 09:30am CET/CEST Quotation Opening: 19.09.17 at 10:00am CET/CEST 'Without a proper solution, t A problem of our own making: without a proper integration policy that puts unemployed Africans into jobs, the ghettoisation of Marsa is inevitable. YANNICK PACE meets the people at the heart of the migrant community A raid at the New Tiger Bar in Marsa, with police armed to their teeth in what was a visible display of power Photo: James Biamchi Mehrabi Gebar: "If you work, like me, you want to sleep after work. Why should I go to Marsa? If you are hopeless you don't care."