Two foreigners late last night intervened to stop a man vandalising the unofficial memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia at the foot of the Great Siege monument in Valletta.

The two, a Briton and a Pole who have been in Malta for six weeks, had just come out of a cinema and were walking in Republic Street opposite the law courts at about midnight when they saw a man remove Ms Caruana Galizia’s picture from the foot of the monument and try to put it in a trash bin.

It was too large to go in, and he then threw it to the ground and tried to smash it.

“We went up to him, stopped him and took the picture. My friend put it back in its place and this man started mouthing words against Caruana Galizia, something about his brother having lost everything because of her,” Briton Daniel Parker said.

“I got very angry. He was desecrating a memorial. I told him he should not be doing this sort of thing and asked him whether he was Christian. He produced a cross from around his neck, but he continued to complain about Caruana Galizia. He also got a bit aggressive, which did not really worry us because we can look after ourselves.”

The man eventually calmed down after ‘a bit of a standoff’ and walked off.

No police report has been filed.