Watch: Minister Silvio Schembri – ‘I Was Arrested For Organising A Student Protest’
Economy Minister Silvio Schembri rolled back the years as he recounted how he was arrested for helping organise a protest as a sixth form student.
Addressing the official launch of PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba’s campaign last weekend, Schembri said he has known Agius Saliba since their days together at the student organisation Pulse at Junior College.
“Among our activities, we had organised a protest because the O Level exam fees had increased,” he said. “This was under a PN government, and although they speak a lot about free expression these days, we got arrested simply for organising a protest.”
“They arrested us and detained us at the Msida police station. Back then, it wasn’t easy or normal for youths to militate in the PL. There were only a few of us, because it wasn’t easy to speak openly in favour of PL principles, especially in educational institutions.”
He went on to praise Agius Saliba for being “one of the few who wasn’t scared to say he was proud of being a Labourite”.
Foreign Affairs minister Ian Borg, another childhood friend of Agius Saliba, also spoke out about his relationship with the MEP, who he playfully referred to by his old nickname “Tander”.
“When we were 15, 16 years old, we militated together in the Opposition,” he said. “We would lose but wake up the next morning even more determined to make the PL stronger.”
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