A mock petition calling for immigrants arriving by boat to be sterilised on arrival was signed by about half the people who were randomly approached and secretly filmed by a team of the television show Xarabank. The video clip, aimed at exposing xenophobia, will be aired tonight during the programme that will discuss whether the Pope's visit last month had any effect on Maltese society.

Presenter Peppi Azzopardi said that some time ago two well-dressed people were asked to approach passers-by they chose at random and ask them to sign a petition calling for immigrants to be sterilised surgically. About 150 people were approached and at least half of them accepted to sign, Mr Azzopardi said, adding that most of the clips had to be heavily edited because of the vicious comments made about immigrants.

"Many of the people said they agreed with the idea because immigrants were invading us, coming to Malta to have lots of babies and would soon outnumber us," Mr Azzopardi added.

Many Maltese claimed not to be racist, he said, but harbour racist sentiments, which they expressed only in private.

He stressed that although this random sample was not scientific it was very revealing. The faces of the people who signed the petition will not be shown during the programme.

The programme will be aired on TVM.