A customer care officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has apologised for a Facebook comment he uploaded this morning about yesterday's riot at Hal Far detention centre.

In a  personal reaction to a call by six NGOs for an independent inquiry into yesterday’s riots Charles Marsh had described the migrants as trash (imbarazz).

He said: Naghmel inkjesta imma biex nara min kienu il-percimes u nibghathom lura in fejn gew, ma ghandniex bzonn imbarazz!

Mr Marsh took down his post after timesofmalta.com contacted the Foreign Ministry asking for its reaction.

The Foreign Ministry in a statement said Foreign Minister George Vella definitely did not agree with the adjective used by Mr Marsh with regard to irregular migrants and completely dissociated himself with the comment.

The ministry pointed out that Mr Marsh, a customer care officer in the ministry, had no executive role. His attention was drawn to his shortcoming and he immediately pulled down his status.

Mr Marsh apologised for the words he had used.

He said in a new post that he was publicly apologising to whoever was offended by his comment, written in the heat of the moment. He said he wanted to assure everyone that he never was, and would never be a racist.