As Castille was being decked to welcome European and African leaders for the Valletta Summit on Migration earlier today, onlookers were diverted by a man seemingly selling passports for €5. Proceeds will go to the Integra Foundation.

Except that instead of the Maltese coat-of-arms, the insignia portrayed a migrating goose flying over a Pacific-centred globe and the contents encompassed a love poem to humanity as a naturally migrating species.

“The problem with the Valletta Summit on Migration is that refugees and migrants are not represented when they are the subject of summit,” activist and writer Antoine Cassar explained, as he rearranged the decorative blocks by the Pjazza Teatru Rjal to read “No Borders”.

Mr Cassar was staging the small-scale demonstration to shed light on the realities faced by migrants.

He explained that when he visited Lampedusa last month for a forum, he got to know of a group of Nigerian girls who arrived by boat in June. Despite being taken to Rome, they were deported back to Nigeria.

In a horrifying crime which shocked the world, nearly 300 schoolgirls were abducted by terror group Boko Haram last year.

“Women are very vulnerable in north Nigeria. Is there a real guarantee that those deported will be safe?”

Economic migration, he continued, was a very slippery term, adding that migration had always been the force behind the shift towards global equality.

“By securing southern European borders, the north/sound capitalist pyramid will continue to rise instead of levelling out.”

At one point, one man approached Mr Cassar and shouted “shame on you”, before attempting to report him to the police.

The police did not take any disciplinary action against Mr Cassar’s short, peaceful demonstration.  

“Mission accomplished,” he said with a smile, as he folded the small table he had brought with him and headed up Republic Street.