Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will let the courts decide whether a makeshift memorial to murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia can remain or not.

The impromptu memorial at the foot of Valletta’s Great Siege Monument has been routinely cleared by irate civilians and government workers, to the outrage of those mourning the controversial blogger.

Dozens of lawyers have backed an application by activist Manuel Delia to stop the government from sweeping away the memorial site. 

In his first comments on the saga, Dr Muscat told Times of Malta there were two points of view on the matter - those who felt the memorial, as a manifestation of the freedom of expression, should stay, and others who felt national monuments should not be taken over by anyone.

Asked where he personally stood on the matter, Dr Muscat said, this was now being assessed by the courts.

“As a Prime Minister, my position is to let the rule of law run its course,” he said.

This reporter asked Dr Muscat whether he would send in government workers in the dead of night to clear away a memorial had my mother been brutally murdered. Replying, Dr Muscat said that “this is not a matter of whether it is your mother or mine”.

And asked whether he felt the government sending in Cleansing Department officials to clear away the candles and flowers harmed his government’s European credentials, Dr Muscat was coy, saying only that the matter was before the courts.