Not even a serious incident such as the one that took place in Luqa on Tuesday brought the country together.

Traffic policeman Simon Schembri was hit by a Mercedes driven by a 17-year-old when he stopped the young lad in Luqa. The officer had an arm amputated, suffered a collapsed lung and is still being treated at the Mater Dei Hospital intensive care unit. The boy, Liam Debono, is now facing 22 charges, including one of attempted murder.

Instead of having a chorus of disapproval following the incident which left an experienced police officer fighting for his life, we had the usual idiots coming up with their despicable comments about how people in authority – not only policemen – should be treated. Comments made on the social media by some people only served to show how this tool can be used to spread hatred, and it is good to note that the Courts of Law are taking such matters very seriously.

Then, to make matters worse, the incident soon turned political, with Labour supporters saying that the hatred being shown against the police was a result of how the Nationalists depicted the corps and its commissioner. Nationalist supporters replied by saying that Labour’s weakening of the country’s institutions contributed to the way people in authority are perceived.

To have one party – the PN – seeing the need to issue a statement that the incident should not be politicised, and for the other party – the PL – feeling the need to reply with a similar statement is proof that something is very wrong with this country.

It is a real pity that we always have to be divided, as a nation. The “us and them” mentality pervades our society and not even something as horrible as the officer’s ordeal led to one, common approach. It is always “red against blue”, even when politics have nothing to do with it.

It must be remembered that, first of all, the health of the police officer who was injured comes first and foremost following all this. Unfortunately, this matter seems to have been overlooked by many in their haste to pin blame on others.

The life of this policeman, as that of his family, has drastically changed after that fateful Tuesday morning. This is what we should all think about.

One good thing that came out after the incident is the fact that the different police organisations – which have had their fair share of differences in the past years – have teamed up to organise a march of solidarity that will be held this morning.

We do hope that this activity will serve to bring back some of the respect towards the police – and other sections of workers employed to keep the country safe – which has unfortunately been lost.

They are the ones we run to each time we find ourselves in difficulty, and they are the ones who risk their lives to protect us.

They deserve respect, always.