Anger and intolerance were very evident during an anti-immigration protest in Valletta yesterday as about 200 protestors marched down Republic Street calling for an end to “forced integration”.
The protest was organised by Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin (the Maltese Patriots Association) in response to the multiple-stabbing attack in Paceville the weekend before last, over which a Libyan man has been arraigned.
Association president Alex Pisani told the Times of Malta the protesters were against the granting of Maltese citizenship to immigrants, which he described as “forced integration”.
“Why should someone who came here illegally get Maltese citizenship and the right to vote?” he asked. “The risk is that they could then also bring over their families. If they’re Muslims they could have eight wives with four children each. It’s an invasion.”
Addressing the crowd outside the law courts, Mr Pisani said immigration was “leading to the eradication of the Maltese race”.
He called for harsher punishments for migrants found guilty of criminal acts and for a limit on social benefits. “Better a police state than a state of fear,” he said.
The march continued on to Merchants Street, the closest to Europe House the police would allow. Speaking to protesters, organisation secretary Henry Battistino said the Schengen agreement was collapsing and described immigrants as “rapists, drug dealers and recidivists”.
“Why are they here? There’s no war in their country,” he said to loud cheers. “Malta should be for the Maltese only.”
Despite calls from the organisers not to make an issue of skin colour, one protester who spoke to this newspaper proudly proclaimed himself a “white supremacist” and described the media as “race traitors”.
Why are they here? There’s no war in their country
Another protester compared immigrants to “cockroaches” and a woman circulating an anti-immigration petition said: “We need to send a message that the Maltese people do not want these blacks in the country.”
Mr Pisani himself, referring to an incident earlier this month in which two African flatmates bit each other during a brawl, described immigrants as “cannibals who look at us as if we were a burger”.
When asked whether the movement was racist, Mr Pisani said: “There’s a wide mix of people here. I can’t speak for all of them. As for us, the President [of Malta] herself agreed during a meeting that we are not a racist organisation.”
He said he that was not opposed to helping refugees but it should be done in their own countries because Malta did not have the resources to accept more people.
The demonstration was also marked by scenes of hostility towards the media and the police had to intervene to protect Xarabank host Peppi Azzopardi following threatening behaviour by some of those present as he interviewed participants.
The hostility continued throughout the morning, with protesters chanting Ġuda (Judas) and traditur (traitor), directed at Mr Azzopardi. This led the organisers to intervene and tell the crowd to instead direct their anger towards “the politicians who have betrayed us”.
As the protest drew to a close, the organisers were again forced to intervene several times to implore the protesters to “go home in peace” as hostility flared up once more.
One protester was pulled aside by a police officer who was heard saying the protester tried to attack a cameraman but the man insisted he only wanted to block the camera view with his placard.