Relatives, friends and well wishers of the late Edgar Fernandes observed a visit outside the Malta House in Piccadilly, London, on July 7, 1999. Some of the family and friends who were organising the event provided us with leaflets, banners and photographs of Edgar Fernandes-- the subject of our protest.

Edgar had been on holiday to Istanbul at Easter 1998 when, almost on arrival, he was murdered for his passport. There is a very lucrative trade in passports formerly belonging to Britons of Asian origin. The murderer, an Egyptian, was finally tracked to Malta but so far pleas for his extradition have been turned down by the Maltese Government.

We were about 40 in all-- Edgar's relatives, friends and ex-colleagues from Hackney libraries. He was obviously a much-loved young man. We chanted slogans intermittently as well as held up banners and handed out leaflets to interested passers-by. The embassy entrance was manned by a couple of cops. As Goanetter Aires Rodrigues cannily remarked, usually there's a posse of the boys in blue at demos but obviously the Goan ‘susegad’ reputation had preceded us and it was deemed necessary to have only two amiable ones! Amongst the passers-by I spotted Alexander Walker, film critic of London's Evening Standard newspaper, who was very interested and sympathetic.

We continued in our very dignified chanting until six o'clock when the media zoomed in. There was a small team from television's "London Tonight" programme who filmed our protest live for the six o'clock news. Meanwhile, Genny, Edgar's sister filled us in on what she had been trying to achieve inside the embassy.

We could not all go in so Genny tackled the High Commissioner. They were all clearly discomfited and even quite angry at our demonstration outside their premises as we were giving them a bad name. Genny got no satisfactory answers from them; they claimed that they encountered difficulties in proceeding with the case and could do nothing to help or expedite matters. At one stage, the High Commissioner was even shouting at Genny but she threatened to walk out if he did not calm down.

Interestingly, they conceded that had the victim’s been Tony Blair's son, the British government would undoubtedly have got things moving long ago and brought pressure to bear on the Maltese government. Edgar's life is no less precious!

One bit of good news that Genny imparted was that Edgar's case is going to be taken up by no less a person than Imran Khan--not the cricketer but the lawyer with dogged determination in the now famous Stephen Lawrence case. ( see: http://www.blink.org.uk/campaign/stevelaw/ slmain.htm) This has apparently created waves. Previously when Genny tried to get some response or communication from the Metropolitan Police Chief, Sir Paul Condon or Foreign Secretary Robin Cook were evasive but now that Imran Khan is on the case Sir Paul Condon and Robin Cook have already asked to meet the family.

After the television crew had finished, we had a little confab and decided that we would try and embarrass the Maltese Government with the same performance on the first Wednesday of each month--same time, same place--until we had satisfactory results. So all of you, who did not make it today and can support us in future, make a note in your diaries please.

Lira Fernandes