Thousands flooded Castille Square in Valletta on Monday evening to pay their respects to construction collapse victim Jean Paul Sofia in a vigil which came only an hour after the Prime Minister succumbed to pressure to call a public inquiry into the 20-year-old’s death.
Prime Minister Robert Abela announced that a public inquiry would be appointed, blaming the magistrate’s delays in her inquiry for that course of action. The decision came just five days after Abela and 39 other government MPs voted against such an inquiry.
A vigil which had been planned for Monday night in Valletta went ahead anyway, with thousands from all walks of life answering the call.
Veteran journalist and presenter Peppi Azzopardi spoke and thanked both the Prime Minister – whose name was met with boos from the crowd – for appointing the inquiry, and the Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech – whose name was met with applause – for his work, saying that had it not been for him then they would not be there.
Upon the boos to Abela’s name, he appealed for the vigil to remain a non-political one.
Azzopardi also read out a poem which detailed what Sofia’s mother – Isabelle Bonnici – went through on that faithful day: from being told her son had been found, and going to hospital only to be then told that it had been a mistake, to returning to the site and waiting until he was found, to her fight for justice and the insults she has faced since.
Azzopardi also included Mohammed Kasem Hashem Alkhateeb – a 26-year-old Syrian man who this morning succumbed to injuries he sustained in a fall at a construction site last week – in the poem, saying that besides being there for Jean Paul, they were also there for him.
Sofia’s cousins Terry, Karl and Maya also spoke at the vigil, saying that the construction industry is leaving victims and suffering families in its wake.
“Jean Paul was killed by greed, irresponsibility, the recklessness of some, and a weak system where checks and balances exist only on paper,” they said.
They continued that this is why urgent changes for stronger laws, more effective enforcement, and harsher penalties are needed to improve the standards in the industry and not allow greed and money to continue to command the industry.
“This tragedy can hit anyone, and when it happens, it will be too late. If nothing is done, then it could be your family which is hit next. This is why we need to come together,” they said.
Addressing the crowd, Isabelle Bonnici said that she was happy that the Prime Minister had understood what the family wanted, and what the people wanted.
“The only colour here is love,” she said in an appeal to keep things non-political.
She said that Jean Paul is probably holding a party in the sky having seen that the Maltese have come together under one colour; the colour of love.
Bonnici said that this is only the start, and that she will keep working to have better laws so that at the end of each year, the number of people lost to the construction industry is less than the year before – “right up until we reach zero.”
With candles aloft, the crowd first held a minute's silence, before singing the Maltese national anthem.
The candles were then placed on the steps outside the entrance to Castille - which serves as the Prime Minister's office.
Photos: Marc Galdes