A police superintendent and various army officers yesterday testified in the case against 12 irregular immigrants who stand accused of attempting a riot at the Ta’ Kandja detention centre.
The accused include four Sudanese nationals – Bubaker Karim, Mohammed Adam Ahmed, Yassin Ahmed and Mohammed Samuel Biled. Four others are Ethiopian: Fasil Joussef, Haile Attalele Hagos, Ahmed Hussein and Montaser Abdullah. The others are Eritrean Aron Gabriel Wanda, Nigerian Falais Mohamed Isata, Ahmed Salem from Chad and Naim Mohammed from the Ivory Coast.
The 12 men are accused of forming a crowd with the intent of causing a riot causing over Lm500 in damage at the centre, breaching the peace and disobeying police orders.
Supt Martin Bayliss said that on 9 May at about 4pm, he heard the panic alarm go off at the compound. He said he rushed to the dorm area and saw that a riot was forming in dorm B. “They were smashing the gate with metal rods from their own collapsible beds. I tried to speak to them to calm them down, but it was to no avail. They were threatening officers and shouting, so I called the depot for backup,” he said.
He continued: “More officers arrived in riot gear and by that time the immigrants had poured soapy water on the floor so as to make it difficult for us to get a foothold. We warned them to move back and that we were going to move in. We also told them to sit on the beds and eventually they calmed down.”
He said their main gripes were that they wanted to speak to the Refugee Commissioner and that the food was bad. “We tasted the food and even spoke to the chef to make sure. It was fine,” said Mr Bayliss.
Lt Colonel Brian Gatt also testified and said that he was called out to Ta’ Kandja to help. He largely confirmed Mr Bayliss’ testimony but added that when the police were trying to take photos of the immigrants’ actions as proof, they started to throw human waste at them from the toilets.
The case continues. Police inspector Mario Haber prosecuted while Dr Anthony Cutajar appeared for the immigrants.