A pressure group calling itself Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana - Republican National Alliance - said yesterday it harboured "moderate right wing" beliefs, promoted natural justice and was against all forms of racism.

Speaking at the group's first press conference, general secretary Philip Beattie, spokesman Martin Degiorgio and technical director Paul Salamone said they were a multi-issue movement that would be speaking about several issues but chose to speak about illegal immigration first as this was the most topical one at the moment.

The group will be holding a protest march against illegal immigration in Valletta on Monday evening.

Mr Degiorgio said that when speaking about illegal immigration one had to understand the tragedy of the immigrants who were flowing out of Africa into Europe. But there were other illegal immigrants who came to Malta as students or terrorists and who stayed here when their visa expired.

"There should be a mechanism that ensures that those whose visa expires actually leave the moment it does," Mr Degiorgio said.

"Illegal immigration is causing a lot of problems. Immigrants are a threat to Maltese culture and are taking jobs and are also being exploited by a few ruthless capitalists to the detriment of Maltese who can do those jobs themselves but at a higher pay," Mr Degiorgio said.

While genuine refugees should be given the help they needed, one cannot but note that the acceptance rate was too high and one should re-examine the cases of those who were granted refugee status since the year 2000 to ensure their case was genuine.

Monday's protest is meant to stimulate political parties to unite and form a common stand on illegal immigration and to urge politicians to listen to the people not to NGOs promoting a multicultural society. An open letter to members of Parliament would be read at the end of the march.

Mr Salamone said placards or any other material with racist messages would not be tolerated and the police, from whom permits were sought for the demonstration, have been instructed to take action against anyone having racist propaganda.