Malta – Massacre on Migration, the 5th episode, released earlier today: “STOP PROVOCATING ME! STOP PROVOCATING ME! THIS IS NOT YOUR COUNTRY! STOP THERE HAQQ ALLA HAQQ AL MADONNA! STOP PROVOCATING ME!”
Published:
April 26, 2014 at 10:30pm
How savage and ignorant to behave that way, but above all, how very stupid to do so in front of rolling cameras.
You really must watch this video.
101 Comments Comment
Reply to Natalie Click here to cancel reply
I hope the police arrest that man (hunter) and charge him with assault, obstruction and breaching the peace. This is barbaric.
How many thousands more innocent creatures have to be slaughtered so Joseph bloody Muscat can buy votes?
I so very much hope the complacent Maltese will be outraged enough at these atrocities sanctioned by the government to make an overwhelming turnout vote in the spring hunting referendum – forsi tasal fl-ahhar ir-risposta.
In other countries, these people are called poachers not hunters. I felt sick hearing the poacher’s atrocious language and did not have the courage to continue viewing this clip.
Probably they will call him in for questioning. They will be extremely apologetic and tell him something on the lines of “skuzani xbin, kellna nghitulek ghax gabuk fuq it-television. Ma ntukx tort ta’ ax dawk tal-birdlife kollha pufti”.
You could see the policeman taking his time and walking slowly towards this incident, instead of running and showing his authority.
God help me if I ever need the help of the Malta police.
The police should stick to catering for Manuel Mallia.
Stop shooting! – I hope I am not the only one who gets the irony.
As the French say, “c’est désespérant !”
CNN aired a similar video, a few weeks ago, where one of their reporters was accosted in China for filming an even more innocuous incident. Our future bedfellows/owners.
That sub Neanderthal ought to be taught a lesson.
I wouldn’t even call these people ‘Neanderthal’ (even idiomatically) as Neanderthals would have hunted for their needs, not as a hobby.
Neanderthals buried their loved ones placing flowers in the grave, proving that Neanderthals had a heart. So please do not place Maltese hunters at that same elevated level of humanity; do not insult the Neanderthals.
..yes, with the rifle he was holding.
Can someone tell me exactly where is this place?
Il-Mizieb taht il-bypass tal-Mellieha. Jintlahaq ukoll mit-triq fil-wied tal-Pwales.
That area is Mizieb, the woods between Mellieha and, I think, Manikata. It is the only natural woodland left in Malta.
In a single year Malta has returned to the violence of the 1980s and it’s getting worse. 20 years down the drain.
These people are shocking. They think they own everything and all is their right to destroy.
It took us 25 years to upgrade Malta from a banana republic to a first world economy. It took us a few months to undo that.
Il-Miżieb is an area designated for hunting. It’s been like that for hunting years; the trees were planted by the hunters. Whether we agree or not with this arrangement is another matter.
One does not go there filming law-abiding hunters and expect no reaction from them. Especially when one sees the “documentaries” .
If it were for me I wouldn’t have hunters and trappers enjoying their “sport” not only in spring but throughout the whole year.
One does not have a right to single out and film people without their permission. That’s called provocation.
Birdlife’s raison d’etre is no longer birdwatching but persecuting hunters and trappers. It’s now full of busybodies who take pleasure in causing trouble to all hunters who have a limited period when they can shoot at some quail or turtledove.
Didn’t the film producers find anything better to prove their argument?
Mizieb is a public place and it is perfectly legal to film in a public place.
Who cares who planted the trees and why. If they were planted on public property, they belong to the public not to hunters.
Hunters do not hunt in Mizieb only, they hunt all over Malta, in spite of what you’re saying here: Mizieb was designed by hunters for hunters.
Hunters do not shoot quails and turtledoves only. Have you seen all five videos? And why should they shoot quail and turtledove at all? Do they really cook them and eat them?
I’m sorry to say, but whoever supports this criminal behaviour, is a criminal himself.
Another thing. If Birdlife members want to resume bird watching, they must have birds to watch first. That is why they are persecuting criminal hunters.
Actually if you’re out in public then it is not a crime to be captured on film.
The trees at Il-Miżieb were planted by the government in the sixties and not by the hunters.
Il-Mżieb was one of several afforestation projects carried out at the time.
Birdshooting and trapping was prohibited in these areas but in 1985, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici who was then Prime Minister, told the hunters that they could start hunting there and at L-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa. The hunters have since occupied this public land without any legal title.
this sounds more like it… Gahan are you misinformed or trying to mislead?
If it is a public area then we all have the right to be there and take photos of whatever we like.
It’s a free country…. no, wait a minute, it was a free country for 25 years, now it’s run by the hunters, the MLP-funding oligarchs and the police.
In a few words, we’re back to an MLPocracy.
Planting some trees on public land doesn’t mean you own it. If the hunters are law abiding then why all this fuss about being filmed
Sorry Gahan but the trees at Mizieb were not planted by hunters. Mizieb together with Ghajn Tuffieha was the first afforestation project in the 1960s by a Nationalist government with the expertise from Israel.
A very sensible comment.
Get your facts right, sur Gaħan. BirdLife’s raison d’etre was never birdwatching. Its mission statement always was and remains the protection of birds. Hunters destroy birds and their habitat, so what do you expect?
As for Il-Miżieb being designated for hunting, where DO you getting your information, mate?
Il-Miżieb was planted in the 1950s as an effort at greening the islands. It wasn’t for hunting at all and it certainly wasn’t planted by hunters. It was only given to hunters in the late 1980s as a desperate last-ditch pre-election stunt by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
It was only given to hunters in the late 1980s as a desperate last-ditch pre-election stunt by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
They seem that they still own the place.
Ara vera Gahan.
How can you say that the Mizieb is an area designated for hunting yet not public? Who are the hunters anyway?
I and any Englishman or whatever nationality have the right to go to Mizieb and walk around and film whatever we want, because the land is public. If you do not want to be filmed then walk out of the way. It’s public space including the air around your head and line of sight is common use.
I for one am sick and tired of being persecuted by hunters and trappers every time I feel like walking in the limited country side on this island.
I’ve had enough and cannot wait to see the end of you all simply because I hate bullies.
There was a day when I would have tried to compromise but not anymore. There is no reasoning with this sort of people and I don’t care anymore if the good ones get lumped in with the bad.
So you stop ‘provocating’ me.
I for one am sick and tired of being persecuted by hunters, trappers, Cabs, Birdlife and ALE, every time I feel like going to work my field which is full of trees.
I just want to live in peace on my land.
Is that why you’re standing for election with Imperium Europa?
Et tu, Baxxter?
So others have made the same connection?
Truly Baxxter, I go to relax in a handkerchief-sized piece of land trying to cultivate five zucchini plants which originally were a dozen but were eaten by the snails.
First a certain Birdlife guy with the name of Nimrod asks me whether I know anything about any trappers in the area (as if I’m going to tell him anything about my neighbours), then a Cabs German guy is seen using his binoculars focused on my zucchini plants dusted with sulphur, then I see Nimrod running, then I don’t see the German guy and start worrying about his fate, then ALE patrol come into my field to turn their Landrover to continue their chase after some trapper with a big bag in his hands.
Can I be left in peace to enjoy my land while the nightingales sing (there are quite a lot in my area)?
The only good thing worthy of note in your comment is your nick name…..GAHAN!
Very appropriate.
A very convincing rational and logical argument worthy of note.
Mizieb is a public place and any person, Maltese or not, has a right to be there. There is no such state as the Republic of Mizieb.
I blame Maltese politicians of the two main parties for this state of affairs. The spring hunting derogation should not have been negotiated in the first place.
Yes, I know, it could have cost us our membership of the EU which would have been catastrophic but now it continues to cost us large areas of our own country which are in practice out of bounds for non-bird-killers.
Didn’t we favour EU membership to make Malta more orderly, among other things?
If the referendum is held and spring hunting is banned, I doubt things will change. The bird-killers will still go out with their guns to shoot migrating birds and to hell with the law. The lawless are not deterred by any law.
Make no mistake, I am in favour of the referendum all the same and will vote for banning spring hunting — I’d vote to ban all hunting but the referendum does not go that far.
Dear Gahan,
If Mizieb was the ONLY area designated for hunting – duly monitored and controlled to ensure that no hunting abuses occur – I would understand that the area be cordoned off, purely for the public’s safety.
Thus it follows that the FACT that hunting has been allowed by successive opportunistic PLPN governments throughout the two islands (even in Majjistral National Conservation Area), effectively means that the rest of the general public and tourists alike are precluded from safely and peacefully appreciating our limited countryside even during our children’s Easter holidays – so much for healthy quality time.
In the last MEP election I spread my voting preferences in accordance with the perceived personal qualities of the candidates rather than their political party they contested with – hoping that Malta will be represented within the EPP, Socialists and Greens EP political groups.
However with the way ‘taghna lkoll’ is devolving – including the blatant take over of the police – I believe anyone who aligns his/herself with the PL erodes his/her credibility beyond redemption, and thus I’ll be sticking to Cacopardo, Cassola and a handful (but definitely not all) of PN candidates who to date, seem credible and capable enough to be our (rather than the respective parties’) representatives.
Jonathan Shaw, I believe, is all out against hunting.
Is there some candidate who is pro-agriculture instead of against hunting or against nature lovers?
Land needs to be cultivated and young people should work the land instead of chasing hunters, shooting down birds organising barbecues or tracking.
Being against hunting, on a minuscule, overcrowded island, is the same as being pro-land, because it’s all about Malta’s exceptional circumstances. This place is too small to cater for everyone’s hobbies.
That’s why I’m against shooting and bird-trapping (hunting, in English, means chasing a quarry using hounds), fireworks, additional gold courses, crazy schemes for airports in Gozo, village feasts which block off entire streets, permits for any more quarries, building permits, motor racing tracks or any other misuse of very, very limited land for pleasure or “delizzju”.
Bollocks to your delizzju. You were born in Malta. You chose to stay. You have to adapt and give up your hobby.
Agriculture is commendable if it is sustainable.
Incidentally, the charges being levelled against Chris Packham, viz. that hunting and shooting goes on in the UK so why shouldn’t we do likewise, are complete rubbish for this very reason. The UK is 771 times the size of Malta.
The trees were planted in the 1950s thanks to the Israeli government.
For many years it was planted by other NGOs like the 4Ts and even Birdlife Malta’s predecessor, the Malta Ornithological Society.
It was still illegal to hunt there in the late 1970s but before the 1987 elections Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici (Labour) gave Mizieb and l-Ahrax in Mellieha to the hunters.
Whether it was ever legal or not is still a question, but they have been there since.
Oh no Daphne! How could you upload this? Mr. Packham said “50 kids” not children.
[Daphne – People with that accent do say ‘kids’ rather than children.]
Great perspective, nadia. That’s all you have to say after watching this video?
It’s like seeing a video of a murderer during his act and then commenting on the jacket he was wearing. Who cares about the dying victim?
This is real cruelty, not the crucifixion of dead cats and dogs to pieces of wood.
Mr Packham is very articulate and well spoken, sometimes the odd dialect slips. I don’t like the word kids, I find it demeaning.
I feel ashamed and desperate not only for the fact that we still have these feudal people who hijacked the bit of green space which my kids and I have every right to enjoy, but also for having a government that gives them support by legalizing their misdeeds, instead of defending the rest of us.
I cannot understand why the journalist was taken in for questioning. He did not do anything wrong. The crew was filming in a public place. And what happened to the savage tribesman? Was he escorted to Floriana as well? If not this needs further coverage!
And the FKNK want us to believe they’re protecting the honest hunter who follows the rules. Give me a break.
Bring on that referendum. It’s a couple of decades late anyway.
I am still proud to be Maltese. In spite of everything.
Consequently I will refrain from commenting and just weep in private.
I’m so angry and ashamed at all this that I wish I could buy a passport of a country furthest away from this island filled by a population ignorant enough to overwhelmingly vote in this shambles of a government which is giving a free hand to these cowardly, bullying thugs to do what they like.
I am absolutely livid.
How many ALE officers and policemen are hunters themselves – with the thuggish mentality of hunters ? I’d bet my bottom dollar that three quarters of them are
Yes, we all should weep.
That’s the problem in this country. How are things ever going to change if people do as you do? Instead of weeping in private, speak up. This culture of omerta and feeling sorry for ourselves has to stop.
We are fortunate that we have a democratic process such as the request for a referendum to have recourse. It is something to be proud of as not all democracies have it.
Good on the NGOs who have taken the initiative in spring hunting.
It is insane that the defence of our environment is left to NGOs who are mainly made up on volunteers. Our environment is under assault more than ever now by the hunters and building contractors. At this rate there is going to be very little left for our children.
The fight against the hunting lobby is a difficult one but can be won. Had they not been so greedy and wanted more than what a PN Government gave them, the referendum might not even be on the agenda.
The fight against the building lobby is another story. They have lots of cash and the possibility of making so much more as an incentive. The Government has clearly shown that it will pander to them. What resistance can the NGOs with a bunch of volunteers in their spare time, provide to that?
We have much to be grateful for to Chris Packham for bringing the spotlight on this issue. Thankfully he is showing that not all Maltese are Neanderthals like that buffoon in the video. Hopefully it will help raise money for the marketing campaign that is going to be needed for the referendum.
As money it will need particularly if the government dips into our tax coffers to help the hunting lobby with theirs.
Something also tells me that the reason that the referendum is being postponed is so that it will not be so soon after this spring hunting season and fresh in the memory of so many of us. This government is nothing else if not strategic and will continue to help the hunting lobby as much as they can.
Hopefully Joseph Muscat has overshot here and by giving in to the hunting lobby’s requests, he may have well have helped in making this their last spring.
Stop shooting! That’s what Bird Life has been saying all along!
Most hunters are Neanderthal. And they have assistance from ALE officers. I am aware of multiple stories where the latter do not take action against hunters, some of them even caught in action acting illegally.
And now we also have officers calling names ‘ja qatta pufti’.
Don’t they know that they should be the ones promoting public order? Another breach in the code of ethics. Malta taghna lkoll, my ass.
Sitwazzjoni tal-wahx
“Stop shooting!” said the hunter!
So had it been a Maltese person filming, would these ###kers be OK with it?
They beat him up senseless probably. The hunters I believe showed restraint because they are dealing with foreigner, white ones I mean and superior to the Maltese because they have lighter skin – this is for the racist Maltese by the way.
Lawlessness is the order of the day. With a government sticking up his middle finger to the law of the land and safety regulations and enforcement dummies cintorting to his tune, is it a surprise that the law of the jungle has taken over?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140426/local/Government-is-using-illegal-billboards-for-its-campaigns.516443
Where is Franco Debono now? Who got HIS tongue?
Well said M. Cassar! 100% right on.
Something that strikes me is how easy it is for these psychos to acquire a shot gun licence in Malta.
Malta is so out of phase with the rest of Europe. While these wan#ers are desperate to shoot birds for fun, in civilised European countries people are battling against animal testing, zoos, slaughter houses, religious slaughtering, and are heavily promoting vegan diets and general animal welfare and rights. That’s sound like fu##in light years away. So much for “being da bust”.
When Joseph Muscat visited the pope he invited him to come to Malta. He had told him “We have our ways to persuade you to come”.
Why doesn’t he extend a fresh invitation after this:
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-04-27/news/president-government-conspicuously-absent-from-vatican-on-historic-day-4765220864/
Joseph Muscat jitkellem tal-mument kif jaqbel lilu u skond l-okkazzjoni.
Ashamed to say I am Maltese.
Nice place to talke the family for a walk.
Heqq, illum jien gejt … http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-04-27/news/president-government-conspicuously-absent-from-vatican-on-historic-day-4765220864/
Funnily enough, nothing on this issue on PBS, NET or Super One. Where are their journalists?
Are they still at home awaiting a phone call to inform them where Joseph Muscat will be farting next? This is hilarious if not tragic. The government is already showing reluctance to hold the referendum even after 44000 signatures were collected.
Maltese people should start to act, and fast, and not only with their vote.
We need to start frequenting these public places with our families en masse if need be and show hunters that the camera is even more powerful then their gun. Malta belongs to us all.
Please Daphne do away with such blatant publishing of blasphemies on your portal. Everyone knows these Maltese swear words!! You do not need to be so explicit!! They can be censored on film and moreover online, especially on a day like this-Feast of The Divine Mercy. Everyone knows that a large section of the Maltese is notorious for swearing, and this gives your country a very bad name.
Why such a low-level delegation from Malta to today’s canonisation ceremony at the Vatican with President and Prime Minister both absent. And if the Prime Minister did not go, what is Mrs. Muscat, who holds no constitutional or official position, doing there?
But MLP is scraping the bottom of the barrel to garner votes for the EP election.
Without going into the merit of who was right and who was not, I must however show my disagreement on the printing of such words, on your blog.
Apart from being blasphemous, no lady of a certain upbringing should ever repeat.
[Daphne – Actually, ladies do swear, Mr Loporto, because they have no concern about being thought otherwise. It all depends on the generation. And reporting the words is not the same thing as using them yourself. Ladies are no more fastidious about these things than they are about, say, cleaning out animal muck. Fastidiousness and a (pretend) horror of swearing are the preserve of those who wish to be thought ladies. The hallmark of the real thing is being thoroughly down to earth.]
“Down to earth” – there’s no such entry in the dictionary of the language-from the-land-of-thick-pompous-people.
Provokating me!!
STOP SHOOTING? so at last, the hunters got the message.
Chris Packham had a website where the videos can be found, you can also donate to Malta Birdlife through his site and also post a tweet or on his Facebook page. Most of the posts are from non Maltese would be good for us to support his initiative.
Theft of land. Massacring birds. Bullying. Damaging property of others. Polluting our environment with shotgun cartridges and huts.
Making places like il-Mizieb no-go-areas and then complaining that the ‘bleks’ made no-go-areas. Putting our tourist industry at risk.
Hunting is too destructive to remain legal and should be made illegal in Malta. Let us Lead Europe by example.
Unless you ve been hibernating for many many winters you would know that lawlessness has been the order of the day for decades when it comes to hunting.
I blame our so called politicians who bow to pressure from the hunting lobby ..
I have a dog and letting it run free in the countryside is a nightmare .Hunters are everywhere .I hear them shooting even though they are out of sight.
They are now hiding the dead birds they kill or wound in drainpipes under the soil .
..
I believe that we still have a law against blaspheming and swearing in public, so we expect the hunter concerned to be charged with breach of the peace. The policeman was there and heard him. What action was taken?
You missed the “f’gh*xx il-lib*” at 3.54 minutes it precedes the “haqq ………”
MALTA TAGHNA LKOLL does not apply to birds.
Well the hunter did say “stop shooting” apart from “provocating”, of course.
Is Cyrus Engerer still collecting signatures?
whatever St Hubert says this is what the Maltese hunting community is all about.
I confess I couldn’t watch it to the end, not even half way. So the hunters planted Mizieb (for their own use). So what. And the boat house people plonked their buildings on public property. Same principle. Same x’ala bibi from others as long as I gratify myself.
Nemesis, as I replied to Gaħan further up, Il-Miżieb was NOT planted by hunters.
Hunters only knuckle-walked into the picture when they were handed the entire woodland on a silver platter – without any formal contract whatsoever, and therefore illegally – by Labour Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici when he realised he wasn’t going to get his Raba’ Rebħa after all.
Mind you, the place was already overrun by Neanderthals well before then. But nothing new there.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2014/apr/26/playmobil-toys#/?picture=435336651&index=2
I cannot bring myself to watch the video but I hope this shitty ‘hobby’ of theirs stops soon.
“Għax dritt tagħna li nippratikaw il passatemp tagħna.”
Perhaps it is a result of cabin fever and close-mindedness.
Of course, the negative press coverage abroad resumes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614134/Police-hold-BBC-wildlife-presenter-Chris-Packham-targets-bird-hunters-Med-taking-senseless-slaughter.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/20/conservationists-marksmen-malta-bird-hunt
The BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27109838
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-04-27/news/birdlife-manager-to-refuse-request-from-police-to-go-for-questioning-4766859266/
This police commissioner is a twisted individual who can’t see right from wrong.
No the Police Commissioner is just a puppet of this government that appointed him.
Gahan, you are wrong. Il-Mizieb was an afforestation project carried out by the Borg Olivier government of the 1960s, but was given to the hunters’ lobby on the eve of the 1987 election by Labour PM Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici to win their vote and it has remained so since that time.
So outside of the hunting season, what is it used for?
Time to claim it back then.
Indeed, what’s this unwritten rule that hunters ‘own’ territory?
Let’s force a change in mentality please, if they have to hunt they should not be allowed to keep ‘their’ hides. Hides which have taken on a new configuration, scaffolding perched on top of any fault line overlooking valleys underneath,
One can’t walk anywhere without coming across these concentration camp style towers looking down on you.
Illegality’s rife, the FKNK a hopeless scam, St.Hubert’s ditto.
This strain of hunting nothing but rednecks’ breeding ground. It’s anti-social, dangerous and implies, emulates, violence.
They’ve been promised we shut up, they go around with their shotguns on a Sunday at ten in the morning and we’ve seen what their attitude is towards anyone not of their group.
The lie is that there can be any distinction between ‘hunters’ and thugs. Not when the territory to share is microscopic there isn’t.
When 44,000 people sign up to a referendum, the tide’s turned.
Enough is enough.
A mere 400 of us hiking through Mizieb would scare the shit out of those disgusting hunters. And if the whole thing ends in fisticuffs, then so be it. Fuck them and their Maltese aggression. They’ve held the entire country hostage since the 1970s and we’ve had enough.
Prow-vow-catink ……
Malta will never be a civilised country when this ‘Might is Right’ attitude is permitted.
Try creating such a commotion in a decent country.
We’re closer to Europe geographically, but right next to North Africa in mentality.
“Thou shalt not mention the name of your Lord God in vain”.
Have mercy on him, Lord.
Kemm jaqghu baxx certi Maltin: LONG LIVE THE ALLA PEOPLE.
Dak riklam ghal Malta. The Malta Tourism Authority should recommend this gentleman for Gieh ir-Repubblika.
It’s a pity the film does not show us what happened when the policeman arrived. It would be interesting to see what the policeman did and how he dealt with the two parties.
I bet this doesn’t make Joseph’s Malta the bast…. and I bet he’s not going to use this as an ‘Energija Positiva’ campaign video