The Marsaxlokk Deputy Mayor has backed environmentalist Cami Appelgren when one of the area’s local councillors told the activist to “mind [her] own business” after she shared a video showing soapy water flowing into the sea off of fisherman’s vessels.

“Am I wrong, or are foreigners controlling us?” Local Council Daniel Zerafa told social media.

“This foreigner (Cami) is trying too hard to find a problem with the small things that form part of everyday village work life.”

“She told me “Shame”, to which I say she is stupid enough because she doesn’t know me and how hard I insist and clean zones in Marsaxlokk, without letting everyone know about it as she does But with all her prejudice she chose to ridicule me in her writing, or so she thought,” he continued.

The incident kicked off after Applegren, a well-known clean-up activist and former MEP candidate, criticised Zerafa for seemingly taking the side of a fisherman who was washing his boat with soap and allowing the water to go into the sea.

“Zerafa, as a public servant, you work for us; the residents. You are there to serve us to make sure there is a sense of civic pride instilled in the community. With your mindset, I am now more enlightened why our society is struggling with feeling a sense of responsibility.”

“No other words to you then: SHAME on you,” Appelgren wrote on social media.

This spurred on Zerafa’s reply, he staunchly backed the fisherman,  saying that all the man did was “wash a boat”.

Applegren then directed Zerafa to legislation concerning littering, telling him that as a public servant, it was his duty to defend the people, not lawbreakers.

Marsaxlokk Deputy Mayor Elenia Desira would back Applegren, telling Zerafa that while the man may be allowed to wash his boat, he is not permitted to do so with soap.

“We cannot continue to pollute the environment. Apart from that, people swim close to there,” Desira said, adding that it was also a danger to people in the area.

“The question as to whether a person is foreign or Maltese makes no sense because when I’m outside of the country, and I see someone breaking the law, I speak up.”

“She could have been Maltese, but it is irrelevant, freedom of speech exists for everyone,” she said.

The conversation then slowly degraded to slightly infantile, with Zerafa telling Applegren that “people keep on telling me to avoid you for many unhappy reasons, but I am no coward; as a foreigner, there are things you do not understand as a local/native”.

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