Let’s hope somebody took the trouble to actually report this

Sent in by Lawrence Attard:

Yesterday (Sunday) evening at around 08:30 I wait with another six people at the ‘bombi’ bus stop, waiting for bus No.12 bound for Buġibba.

Before we could embark a young African man stepped off the bus and sat down on one of the folding benches at the bus stop.

To our utter amazement, the driver of the bus stood up and started making as if he wanted to get at him,, shouting repeatedly: “YOU HAVE PROBLEM? YOU HAVE PROBLEM?”

A Maltese man of relatively small build, who was standing next to him, tried to cover the driver’s mouth and “succeeded” in holding him back.

It was evident that there had been some exchange of words between the driver and the African man, but I could not help noticing that the driver could simply have stormed past the small man with ease if he really had set his mind to it.

Let’s make one thing absolutely clear: I have no idea what had provoked the outburst, and therefore I cannot comment on that. However, after we had boarded and were driving off, the abuse took on a decidedly xenophobic twist, with the driver exclaiming things like “ma nistax għalihom”, “għax ma tmurx minn fejn ġejt”, and “f’għoxx minn ġabek ‘l hawn”.

A little down the road he started jerking the bus by alternately braking and accelerating, as if to send standing passengers off balance and careering onto the floor. He then stopped abruptly in the middle of the road and started shouting at everyone to move back.

The passengers complied, except the small man from Scene 1 above, who seemed to be an acquaintance of some sort and continued to chat casually with the driver.

There can be little doubt that the driver had had a horrid day, and that the incident had made it worse, but I could not help feeling that if he had a similar altercation with a Briton or Italian he would not have launched the same levels of hatred and abuse.

Perhaps more significantly, not a word was heard in the crowded bus for as long as I was on it, with the passengers left staring in bewilderment. I almost felt as if the numerous tourists that were present must have been left thinking that perhaps a cheerier holiday destination was not, after all, beyond their means.