Remembering sette Giugno 1919

Abstract

The incidents reported in this book, known collectively as the Sette Giugno Riots, took place in the year 1919 while Malta was a colony of the British Empire. It was not the usual weekend that of Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June; nor were the three days that followed. They were eventful moments during which local discontent against the colonial administration reached a dramatic climax. Those days were marked by turmoil and stained with bloodshed. The Sette Giugno had changed the political and economic history of Malta forever. In many ways it gave Malta an identity and opened the gates to more ambitious political aspirations, different from those which Maltese politicians had striven for during the nineteenth century. The desire of obtaining for Malta more autonomy in government was to be the beginning of a long journey along which the Maltese gained various other constitutions, achieved some political rights, and gained self-government. [excerpt]