Let’s hope that the arrest and arraignment of this Swede wasn’t just another form of xenophobia

A Swedish man has been arrested and charged by the police with incitement to racial hatred.

His behaviour was terrible, and the police did the right thing. The court has now found the man guilty as charged and sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for two years.

But here’s the thing: there have been many episodes of incitement to racial hatred in which the protagonists are Maltese people – including policemen, policewomen and soldiers – and if anything has been done about them, then we are none the wiser.

There certainly haven’t been any news reports about their arrest, arraignment and conviction.

Anybody who travels by bus routinely or spends time on Facebook knows that this sort of assault is regular and that many Maltese people, just like this Swedish man, think that it is perfectly acceptable and legal to behave as they do and say what they say.