Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella disassociated himself from a Facebook comment posted by a ministry official that described rioting immigrants as “trash”.

Dr Vella said he disagreed with “the adjective” used by customer care officer Charles Marsh, who was commenting on the news that six humanitarian groups called for an independent inquiry into Tuesday’s riot.

Mr Marsh later apologised and removed the comment.

Send them back to where they came from. We do not need such trash

He had said an inquiry was needed to establish who the troublemakers were and “send them back to where they came from”.

“We do not need such trash,” Mr Marsh wrote.

Soon after uploading his comment, Mr Marsh retracted his post when Times of Malta asked the ministry’s reaction.

A ministry spokeswoman said Mr Marsh’s attention was drawn to the shortcoming.

“Mr Marsh apologised for the words he had used,” she said, pointing out that he was a customer care officer and had no executive role.

Later, on his Facebook wall, Mr Marsh apologised for his comment, which he said was written “in a moment of anger”.

“I would like to assure everyone I am not and never was a racist,” he wrote.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com