Mohammed* is a Libyan immigrant who has been living in Malta for 10 years all through which he’s been working and paying taxes, he told the newsroom.

Throughout this decade, he’s worked several different jobs with cab driving being the constant for the last three years.

“In all jobs, I have been exposed to racism, but nothing has been compared to the amount that I’ve experienced as a cab driver.”

Yesterday night, Mohammed received a request in Buġibba from a man named Jack* who needed to be dropped off in Mellieħa. Upon seeing his cab arrive, Jack quickly hopped in.

“But as soon as we moved, he asked me to stop and drop him out. He insulted me and cursed me with racist expressions, insulted my Arab ethnicity, and insulted my Islamic religion. I did not do anything towards him, nor did I say a word to him.”

Mohammed explained that he filmed bits and pieces of the incident out of shock, but he wasn’t able to capture Jack’s full verbal attack.

The moments that were caught on video illustrated a seemingly unprompted racist attack from the customer.

“I did not say that I would do anything towards him, but rather I tried to stop him and respect him,” Mohammed continued.

“We, cab drivers, are often exposed to injustice, bullying, racism, and obscene expressions, even though we are exposed to many laws that have made cab service worse, with a very limited income, high prices, and the difficulty of life.”

“We are still exposed to these situations daily even though we respect Malta and its people, we respect this country from which we eat. We live from it, we do not want to cause any problems, and for the sake of the company as well, we respect all laws and pay all our taxes,” he assured.

Mohammed went on to say that he could not understand why foreigners like him are treated so terribly, often finding themselves as targets of unwarranted hate.

“I do not know why they hate us, our Arab race, and our Islamic religion, so much so that he insulted my faith which is a valuable thing for me. He insulted my Arab race too but I did not do anything to him because these are our morals and we respect everyone.”

In the video, Jack can be heard repeatedly telling Mohammed that “they” [Arab people] mean nothing. He tells Mohammed to go “fuck himself” and he reminds the third country national that this is ‘his’ country.

Jack can be heard going on a derogatory rant threatening to spit on Mohammed and trying to prompt the driver to fight him.

“Arab is fucking shit I spit on them like I spit on you, you mean nothing, even the fucking the colour in your face, you know the colour in your face how disgusting.”

“You know how disgusting you are, come fight me, man, come fight me. Do you have the balls to fight me?”

During this aggressive moment, Mohammed can be heard saying “no, no, no” when asked if he wants to fight.

When Jack asks if Mohammed wants to fight him a second time, the driver responds “No, I just want to go”.

At another point, Jack can be heard saying that “they [Arab people] offend” but he “respects”. However, when Mohammed assures that he respects Maltese people, Jack incoherently replies “I don’t give a fuck, please don’t respect me, I am Maltese.”

Mohammed can be heard trying to de-escalate the situation, telling Jack “Thank you but please leave” and “Have a good night”.

During the altercation, Mohammed even tells Jack to watch out for oncoming cars to which the customer responds “I don’t care about this, they [the cars] are not as powerful as me”.

“Ok, my friend let me go, have a good night. I’m still good with you, please, let me go,” Mohammed continues. 

It is unclear what prompted Jack to leave, however, eventually, Mohammed was able to exit the tense situation.

“How long will we, cab drivers and foreigners from the Arab/Islamic race that live in Malta, continue to be exposed to racism by some Maltese people?” Mohammed asked. 

“We live here, pay our taxes, integrate into Maltese society, have Maltese friends, love this country, and try to benefit this country, and despite all this, some Maltese people still insult us. They say we should return to our countries with their popular saying “Go back to your country” that we hear every day,” Mohammed concluded. 

That night, Mohammed, shaken from the traumatic ordeal he endured, had to stop working.

“I feel really bad right now. I stopped working that night because of his actions and the same actions that happen every day.”

Have you ever experienced such racial abuse in Malta?