Members of an online group called Save Malta from Illegal Immigrants have decided to award a "Man of the Year" plaque to recently-promoted Police Superintendent Silvio Valletta.
Supt Valletta made the news recently when he commented in court that the Maltese people were scared to go to Marsa because of the strong immigrant presence.
He was speaking during a hearing in which an 18-year-old Somali admitted to stealing a pair of sunglasses and other items worth over €233 from a car in Marsa.
The incident happened when the owner of the car had stopped to buy a drink and he was attacked by four men. One of them, not the accused, hit him on the head with a bottle. The other three ransacked his car.
When the police arrived three of the men escaped but the Somali was arrested.
"We are not in Somalia. If they do not have laws there, we have laws here and they have to understand this," Supt Valletta was reported as saying.
Magistrate Michael Mallia handed down a six-month jail term suspended for one year, after taking into account the Somali's age and the fact that he was a first -time offender. Supt Valletta deems the sentence too lenient.
His words received mixed reactions, with some arguing that his comments were racist and others saying it was true that some areas of Malta had become scary because of "ghettos" that were being created.
Contacted for his reaction about the award, Supt Valletta denied making the comments and said the award and similar reactions made him "angry".
"I am a man of justice. I believe everyone should be treated equally. All I said was that we have to ensure Marsa does not become a scary place for the Maltese to be in," he said.
Those who set up the online group on the networking site Facebook, thanked Supt Valletta for being "brave enough to let the Maltese, tourists and legal immigrants know of the danger in certain places".
When contacted, a founder of the Facebook group, Denis Catania, said the award is there for Supt Valletta to collect. If the high-ranking police officer is retracting his comments because of pressure from the government, then "shame on him and shame on the Maltese people for allowing it", Mr Catania remarked.
He agreed that Marsa had become a scary place and that it did not make sense to put an open centre in an area that was already notorious for crime because it had only aggravated the situation further. "They should have put the open centre in Swieqi or Luxol so that the immigrants would be given a better chance," Mr Catania added.
The right-wing party Azzjoni Nazzjonali issued a statement in support of Supt Valletta. "Azzjoni Nazzjonali salutes Superintendent Valletta for having the courage to say the truth as we salute every public officer who, day in, day out, perform their duties under duress to the best of their abilities with limited resources to keep the rest of us safe," AN said.