A group exercised their right to eat spaghetti while wearing a colander on their head in front of the Msida parish church yesterday.

The pasta eaters are members of the international Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, known also as Pastafarians. Their symbolic meeting followed that of another group of people – the so-called Maltese Patriots – who last Sunday met at the same place to protest against Muslims meeting there for Friday prayers.

One of the self-styled Maltese patriots’ main contentions is that since Roman Catholicism is the religion of Malta, other religions should not be allowed to hold such public demonstrations.

So the local Pastafarian community decided to meet at the same spot to show that not all Maltese are Catholic and everyone should be allowed to practise their religion. “We have every right to be here, to cook pasta and to believe in our own religion. We live in a country whose democratic principles allow everyone to express their beliefs. I think everyone can decide to be whatever they want,” organiser Franco Farrugia said.

We have every right to be here, to cook pasta and believe in our own religion

Members of the community have been meeting over the past few months to discuss issues of tolerance and diversity. However, it was the latest protest by members of the Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin and the manifestation of religious discrimination that inspired Mr Farrugia and Dominic Watson to apply for a police permit to hold yesterday’s rally.