The Hungarian student who was arrested by three RIU police officers at the Valletta Bus Terminus on Wednesday said today that he is still in shock.

Jack Daboma was arrested after he tried to organize a queue of people waiting to get their bus card topped up on the day the service was launched. At first people started to cooperate with him until a woman hurled racial insults at him, spat at him and slapped him across the face. He ended up being arrested by three RIU officers, the controversial arrest of which was filmed on camera and went viral.

He was accompanied by his wife and daughter at the time of the incident.

“You cannot forget this incident in one minute; each time I speak about what happened I get emotional," he told The Malta Independent.

“What made me cry most that day is the fact that the people were clapping when the police pinned me to the ground,” he said.

“I cried when I realised my 15-month-old daughter had seen everything and the fact that other black people wanted to do something but did not out of fear.”

While thanking all those who conveyed messages of support to him and his family, he said: “No one can stand alone, if you do so you will die but what I am talking about is not change but the urge to start a dialogue,” he said.

“On my way I might die trying but let me try to do something,” he continued.

If you have one broomstick, you can break it but if you place a number of broomsticks together you will never break them, he said, in a bid to highlight that if something is done collectively it will make a difference.

Mr Daboma said it is not the first time he suffered racial abuse.

Asked if he feels the police went out of line that day, he said that the person who went out of line is not only the woman who spat at him but the district policeman who was told several times by him that the woman spat at him but did nothing.

“Had he acted, the situation would not have spiralled out of control,” he continued.

Asked whether he feels certain Maltese people speak in a racist manner because they are tired of migrants landing on our shores, he said that some Maltese people speak of migrants taking over. “The fact that Maltese are worried of migrants taking over is a sign of weakness.”

Asked whether he forgives the persons who hurled insults at him and the police, he said: “You cannot cure hate with hate; I forgive them completely.

"I want to spread love, I want people to say Malta is the place to be.”

When questioned whether he may have irritated people for having taken it upon himself to organise the queue, when it should have been personnel of the bus operator or the authorities who should have done so, he said: “What would you have done if a woman fainted in front of you and your wife is feverish. Won’t you try to take the initiative and organise the queue?”

"We had been there for two hours in the same spot," he continued. I pleaded with the security personnel to do something about the situation and they said they are were doing their best.

"There is always resistance to change. The man who was trying to control the people thanked me for helping him out," he said.