10 December - Human Rights Day

Joseph De Piro’s justice

Joseph De Piro’s leading virtue was undoubtedly his charity. But a central dimension of this virtue was certainly his justice.

1.1 The employees at the Major Seminary, Mdina, Malta
It seemed that the rectors of the Maltese Major Seminary had the duty to present to the Archbishop of Malta a yearly report about the different aspects of the life of the Seminary. The Servant of God presented the one for the scholastic year 1919-20 on 27th August 1920. Having analysed the academic aspect, Rector De Piro presented the servants’ situation, “12. All through the year the servants’ contribution has been quite satisfactory. We therefore ask your Excellency to revise their salaries, which is certainly not enough for today’s needs.”

1.2 Member of the National Assembly - justice with all the Maltese

In 1918, Dr. Filippo Sceberras started a national movement for greater constitutional liberties in Malta. Associations in Malta and Gozo were invited to send delegates to a National Assembly. The 270 delegates were chosen from different walks of life. Mgr De Piro was nominated as one of the four representatives of the Cathedral Chapter and the clergy.
The National Assembly had its first meeting on 25th February 1919 and a proposal for a greater autonomy in local affairs was accepted. This proposal, which met with half-hearted enthusiasm by the British Colonial Authorities, served to raise expectations among the general Maltese population.
 

1.3 The Sette Giugno Riots
1.3.1 Saturday, 7 June1919 - justice with the unemployed and the other poor Maltese
The second meeting of the National Assembly was held on Saturday, 7th June 1919, at the Giovine Malta, Valletta and at a time when there was a considerable tension on the Island owing to the widespread unemployment. A fortuitous spark turned the mass of people who went to Valletta on that fateful day into a riotous mob. The Maltese policemen could not control them and the British soldiers who were called up in their stead lost their heads and fired on the unarmed rioters. Four Maltese men died from gunshot wounds that day, with a further two dying in the following days. All this took place while the National Assembly was discussing a proposal to select a Central Commission to draft a constitution for Malta. Mgr De Piro in his capacity of Dean of the Cathedral Chapter was chosen as the representative of the Island’s Cathedral Chapter and clergy among the fifteen representatives of the Central Commission.

The second meeting of the National Assembly was dramatically interrupted when the crowd brought one of the above mentioned wounded men into the Giovine Malta. Those who entered the hall asked the delegates to intervene on their behalf with the British Government. Out of the many members present for the second meeting only a few remained to give a hand: Advocate A. Caruana Gatto, Advocate S. Vella, Fr Nerik Dandria, Councillor G. Vassallo, Saviour Zammit Hammet … and Mgr Joseph De Piro. These ran the streets of Valletta, trying to calm down the mob. An Inquest Commission was set up by the Government in order to establish the facts of that sad event. This was made up of Judge A. Parnis LLD, as President; Dr M. Debono LLD; Magistrate L. Camilleri LLD; Col E.W.S. Broke CMG, DSO; and Lieut., Col., W. T. Bromfield. Mgr De Piro was called to give his testimony on 21st and 26th August 1919. Here are the facts as reported by him, and some of the others who accompanied him:
Judge A. Parnis told De Piro, “Your name has been mentioned by many witnesses. Can you, please, tell me what you saw on Saturday, 7th June and Sunday, 8th June?”

De Piro replied “I was present at the meeting of the National Assembly as Delegate of the Cathedral Chapter. After the discussion had lasted an hour and a half, someone entered the hall of the ‘Giovine Malta Club’ where the Assembly was holding the meeting. The person who came in showed us a handkerchief stained with blood and said: ‘See what they have done to us; you must protect us, you must protect us’. After this, order was restored and the meeting was closed. I was asked to find some other members of the Assembly so that we might try to restore peace among the people. I accepted the request. We were six or seven. We tried to find out by telephone where to locate Mr. Robertson, the Lieutenant Governor, and we were informed that he was in the office of the Commissioner of Police. We rang up the Assistant Commissioner of police to give us police protection, to accompany us to the police station; but no help was forth¬coming.”

Mgr De Piro continued: “We went on our own and tried to enter the Law Courts by the back door in Strada Stretta. Then we could reach the police station, but we did not succeed. We tried again and from Strada Stretta we went on to Strada S. Giovanni, but as we reached Strada Reale we heard a shot. So we turned back to the Club, the ‘Giovine Malta’. Later we learnt that those were shots fired accidentally by soldiers in the Police Station.”

Major General Hunter Blair received the following information: “A telephone message from the Lieutenant Governor who was at the police station informed me that the Delegation wished to see me at my home. I said ‘I am prepared to receive them’. I later got another telephone message telling me the Delegation were on their way to me. However, the Delegates did not manage to make their way through the crowds, and so they turned back to the police station.”

Mgr De Piro continued, “In the Club, the ‘Giovine Malta’, we found the Assistant Commissioner of Police waiting for us, and he accompanied us to the police station.”

The Lt. Governor, Mr. Robertson, was at the Law Courts. So they went through Strada S. Lucia and Strada Reale to enter the Courts. Mgr De Piro omitted in his evidence what occurred there. Advocate Caruana Gatto relates: “The first time we tried to enter the Law Courts, people in the crowd were unfriendly towards us, especially towards Mgr De Piro, and shouted: ‘You are to blame for all this!’. Mgr De Piro replied: ‘Well, well. We are trying to save you, and you are blaming us!’ ”

At the end of his evidence, Monsignor was asked many questions. One of these was, “Did not someone swear at you?” Mgr De Piro answered all the questions, but according to Alexander Bonnici, the biographer, he gave no importance to the above. He did not want to harm his people, feeling that the impatient crowd was not inciting an attack on the clergy. Words, said in anger by persons in a frustrated crowd and addressed to him as a priest, were ignored and omitted in his evidence. However, later, on 9th June, there were evident signs of anti-clericalism in the angry mob. Mgr De Piro’s equanimity in his evidence again revealed his integrity.

 

Mgr De Piro continued: “We spoke to the Lt. Governor , asking him to withdraw troops from the streets, and we guaranteed that the people would be pacified. Robertson was not fully convinced, and several times he asked us the same question: ‘Were we really able to guarantee a peaceful outcome?’ We answered that it was necessary for us to obtain permission to address the crowd from one of the windows of the Law Courts. This was granted.... Advocate Caruana Gatto spoke to the crowd, relating what had passed between us and the Lt. Governor. He asked the people to disperse, thus helping us as mediators to keep our word to the Lt. Governor. The crowd showed signs of co-operation, and we thought we had succeeded in our task. This, however, was not yet to be. The crowd first insisted on the soldiers leaving the Law Courts. This request was passed on to Mr. Robertson, who promised to order all soldiers back to their barracks . . . The excited crowd demanded more than the departure of soldiers from the Law Courts and in loud voices they claimed that justice be meted out to them.”

In his evidence, Fr Enrico Dandria, one of the members of the Delegation, said, “We promised them that whoever had been guilty of the shedding of blood on that day would be punished.”

Gatto affirmed the same: “We spoke to the crowd and assured them that those responsible for mistakes made on that day would be punished. We advised the crowd to disperse. Mgr De Piro, Advocate Vella and myself felt they were satisfied and the crowd started to disperse, when unfortunately at that moment, a group of Royal Marines arrived, and the crowd was infuriated again.”

De Piro added that it took two and a half hours to calm down the crowd, because the Marines appeared to be heading towards the Law Courts. Whistling and booing became tumultuous and it was feared shooting would start again if the people lost their control. Fortunately this did not ensue. De Piro stated that the Delegation remained there until all the Marines had left the Law Courts.

This statement tallies with Fr Enrico Dandria’s evidence, “We went out and told the crowd to promise not to molest the Marines; and we told the Marines to take no notice of the whistling, while they were walking out of the Courts. They felt reassured by our words, and we accompanied them as far as St. John’s Church.
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