Four men – and a dog – marched down Republic Street this evening with signs protesting alleged government corruption.

On the eve of a meeting of EU leaders in Malta, PN candidate Salvu Mallia took to the streets accompanied by fellow candidate David Thake and local councillors Wayne Hewitt and Charlot Cassar, as well as his pet Daschund.

The quartet held signs depicting Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and minister Konrad Mizzi as worms in a rotten apple, branding them the KKK, or Klikka Korotta Kastilja (Castille Corrupt Clique) over allegations relating to the Panama Papers scandal.

The ‘other’ KKK, a US white nationalist organisation, joins Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin in a growing list of hyperbolic comparisons Mr Mallia has chosen for Dr Muscat.

The PN candidate did not speak during the silent march from Parliament to the Grandmaster’s Palace, pausing for photos outside the Labour Party club (where the Daschund took the opportunity to relieve itself), except to take aim at “irrelevant” national broadcaster PBS for not covering his media stunts.

Taking questions from journalists afterwards he reiterated his claims of corruption against the Prime Minister and sent a message to European leaders ahead of tomorrow’s summit: “Malta is an apple in the European basket, and it is an apple infested with corruption,” he said. “If unchecked, it will infect the whole of Europe.”