Maltese youth did not fall to the ground on being punched, collapsed minutes later
● Patrijotti leader says protest not linked to man’s death
Zack Meli did not fall to the ground when he was punched during an altercation in Paceville, sources have told The Malta Independent, excluding the possibility that the 24-yearold died after hitting his head on the ground.
Meli died in Paceville, near Santa Rita steps, early on Sunday morning. It was originally reported that he had died after being surrounded by foreign nationals and punched in the head. A Bulgarian teenager was arrested but was later released on police bail. The circumstances surrounding the Maltese man’s death remain unclear and an autopsy carried out on Monday was inconclusive and found no signs of violence.
CCTV footage has confirmed that no fight took place. Sources said Meli was “acting strange” when he arrived in front of the eCabs office. At one point he approached the suspect, who was in the company of other people.
Meli allegedly bumped into a member of the group and, because he was acting strange, was punched once. The victim did not fall to the ground. Instead he fell on another person. A few minutes later he collapsed to the ground.
Investigators are facing a dilemma and are looking at CCTV footage while also speaking to eyewitnesses. It seems, the sources said, that the victim had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. Toxicological tests are also being carried out, although friends of the victim said Meli was not one to dabble in drugs.
Meanwhile, the leader of the controversial Moviment Patrijotti Maltin has tried to distance a protest it is organising from Meli’s death.
On the day of Meli’s death, media reports centred around the alleged actions of the Bulgarian national. Alex Pisani, the president of the movement, uploaded an image on Facebook calling for a national protest against “beatings” being suffered by local youth at the hands of foreigners, with a screen grab of a Net News story stating Meli had lost his life after being punched.
Pressed on the fact that this image gives the impression that the protest was being organised as a result of what had happened to Meli and that it could be perceived as an attempt at scoring political points off a tragedy, Battistino stressed that the protest was about a lack of security plaguing the nation.
He added that it was also about Moviment Patrijotti Maltin’s request that all foreigners found guilty of committing crimes should be repatriated.
Asked how people were supposed to believe that the protest was not going to take place because of the tragic death of Meli, Battistino said a distinction had to be drawn between the Maltese Patriots Group (Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin), on whose Facebook page the poster was uploaded, and the political group Maltese Patriot Movement (Moviment Patrijotti Maltin).
He said that what had been shared was not Moviment Patrijotti Maltin’s official poster, which will be released today.
“What happened to Zack has nothing to do with our protest. Zack is one example of several crimes being committed against Maltese on a daily basis. We even have Maltese mothers who speak out about what is happening to their children on a daily basis.
“What happened to Zack is terrible and unfortunate, but he is certainly not the reason behind the protest.”
On the poster being shared, which has been condemned by Meli’s friends, who described how he would have been appalled to see his death being used this way, Battistino said:
“Alex Pisani is the person who uploaded the post. Every day crimes are being committed. Every time crimes are committed by foreigners we upload to social media. On that day, every media house, including TVM, described how this man was punched in the face by a Bulgarian and later died in hospital as a result of his injuries.”
“I am the leader of the party, and not Pisani. Do not forget that on the Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin social media group we have 16,000 members and everyone has a right to post. As long as they do not cross any red lines, I cannot control what is posted.”
He repeatedly and vociferously stressed that the protest was not being organised because of Meli, and that a protest had been in the pipeline regardless.
Battistino questioned how the media had immediately reported that Meli had died as a result of the punch thrown by the Bulgarian national, and how Labour Party media then described him as a “junky.”
“How did this man go from being a victim to being a junky? It’s not right.”
He questioned how information was released as soon as an incident happened, and then changed quickly by the authorities, implying that something sinister or “fishy” was going on. He referred to a recent incident in which a police officer insisted that a Malian man had urinated on officers shortly before being placed under arrest, while the police themselves issued a statement to the contrary.
Battistino urged local newsrooms to check facts properly before blindly releasing statements.
He also stressed that his party’s main concern was the number of people in Malta, an unsustainable figure which could be seen in the uncontrollable traffic on the roads, and in public and social services, which were being spread thin.