I know exactly what you meant about the noise of the metal pipes … and chains too. I clearly remember the sound, and the feeling of fear about it all.

The Curia and the law courts were ransacked on the same day. It was September 1984, possibly the 24th. It was meant to be my last day at work as a pupil-worker, before returning to sixth form, only St Aloysius’ College did not reopen again until November that year, thanks to KMB.

David, I was 17 years old at the time, working a few metres down from the law courts in Sta Lucia Street.

One of my colleagues – a few years my senior and a known Laburist, yet a decent person with whom I am still in touch – had come back to work after running an errand, slamming the heavy wooden door violently behind him.

I recall telling him off for doing so, and was met with him running up the stairs, terrified, shouting “gejjin ifarrku tad-Dockyard!”.

The sights and sounds that followed will never be erased from my memory.

We had barricaded ourselves in the office, and yet, through a window, I was able to see KMB aboard one of the large, heavy, dockyard trucks accompanying the workers waving heavy metal equipment and chains around.

They were like savage, violent animals; KMB was docile as a mouse, almost obliviious to all that was going on around him, signing autographs for and handing flowers to the women who approached him from Strait Street.

It was definitely September 1984, possible the 24th, though the actual date is irrelevant. KMB was prime minister at the time. Yes, they ransacked the law courts in 1987, too, but that was a different occasion.

After that, the dockyard workers had gone on to the Curia, smashing up the chapel and defaecating in it.

Saying that KMB is not a violent person is one thing, but denying that these things ever happened under Labour is an insult to people who lived through them.

Mela mhux bhal Gonzi ghax kuljum isemmi il-Passat….

Le habib, Ma nahsibx li EFA u in-nies li semmejt insew il passat ghax kull minn jgholli idejh ghandu xi jxomm…
kemm il partit tieghek kif ukoll il-knisja…

Ghax nahseb intom tlajtu tajjeb u uliedkom….L-ewwel attakk hareg min fomm Nazzjonalista bil kliem ( May they rot in hell )
Kull kumment iehor huwa hela ta hin ghalija li naghmlu ghax tant intom arroganti li tahsbu li intom xi generazzjoni ta nies superjuri li anke il hsieb li dan vera tahsbuh jispjega ezatt min fejn gejja l-arroganza kolla tal gvern prezenti…
Ma tafux ahjar, ghax hekk ghalmukom.

tidher li qatt ma kellek xi kaz il qorti bhala vittma…..ghax vittma terga tohrog..Anke il-Prim imhallef instab hati ta korruzzjoni habib…
Int fejn qed tghix?

Thanks for that link.

I believe it was the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, that dockyard workers prevented from entering harbour, not the HMS Brazen.

The Brazen came to Malta earlier, when Labour was still in power.

[Daphne – That’s right. And Alex Sceberras Trigona was photographed in a sailor’s cap.]

It was the first Royal Navy ship to return to Malta after 1979, either in late 1986 or early 87. That was the time when Alex Sceberra Trigona was photographed wearing a Royal Navy Brazen cap, prancing about like an utter and total prat.