Opposition leader Adrian Delia has accused the government of downplaying last night’s riot at the Ħal Far open centre and of not adequately addressing the worries it caused.

“The government spent €40 million on a press conference to open a road, but for an incident like this, the [Home Affairs] minister’s only statement was that a small group of migrants caused a riot and that some have been arrested,” Delia said in Parliament.

The PN leader was reacting to a statement by Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia that around 300 people were involved in the riot and that 107 have been arrested. The minister also described an initial report by Net News that around 1,000 people had participated in the riot as “exaggerated”.

“There are villages which have fewer than 1,000 people, and if 300 people cause a riot in a village, we won’t say that there were people who didn’t participate but that we will do our utmost to ensure it won’t happen again,” Delia said. “It seems the minister has only now realised that AWAS staff have poor work conditions and that he will meet with them tomorrow to discuss how to improve them. This isn’t how to run a government or how to react to really serious incidents.”

“Imagine 300 people cause a riot in a football ground with 1,200 supporters…will we say that only 300 people attacked police officers and destroyed police cars? This is worrying the Maltese people and I would have expected the minister and the Prime Minister to say way more than what they said today.”

What should be done to prevent the riots from breaking out again?

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