Updated 7.15 p.m.

Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said today that he agreed on the holding of an inquiry into last Tuesday's riot at Hal Far, as requested by Non-Governmental Organisations.

The riot, he said while speaking on Dissett, was caused by people who had been denied protection and were to be repatriated.

The inquiry would be held to ensure that there were serene minds on what had taken place. It has not been decided whether this would be a ministerial inquiry or an inquiry headed by a magistrate. 

Earlier the minister said the government was reviewing the detention of migrants in that while detention would be retained, conditions were being improved. Detention was important even for security reasons, he said, because no one knew who these people were and whether they were parts of cells sent for ulterior motives .

This morning, Times of Malta reported how the Police Commissioner has denied that the police used excessive to quell the riot.

He confirmed that a taser gun was used to disable two migrants who were “excessively violent”

 “I would not even use the word quell because, after pelting the police with wood and stones, they gave up immediately except for two who remained excessively violent,” Mr Zammit told Times of Malta.

Mr Zammit said truncheons were not needed because the large Perspex shields allowed the police to box in individuals. Sources said that when the police rushed into the building they were rather heavy-handed, but Mr Zammit insisted the rules of engagement applicable to such situations were followed, including firing warning shots.

He said three warning shots were fired outside the building, noting that rubber pellets were used “not rubber bullets”.

“The pellets are the size of a rubber at the back of a pencil and are fired at low charge. At close range, the worse one can feel is something pinching one’s skin,” he said. Such ammunition was not intended to injure, he insisted.

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