Prime Minister: ‘It Seems Some Have Forgotten Cold-Blooded Ħal Far Migrant Murder’
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has denounced the use of anti-migrant rhetoric, reminding people of the way Lassana Cisse Souleymane was killed in Ħal Far earlier this year in what police believe to be a racist murder.
“When a migrant was killed in Ħal Far, we all thumped our chests and became saints on earth,” Muscat said on ONE this morning. “Now it seems that some have forgotten the way he was killed in cold blood and have started saying the usual rubbish on Facebook.”
The Prime Minister’s comment appeared to be dig at PN Birkirkara councillor Justin Schembri, who said this weekend that Malta should follow the example set by Italy’s deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who has closed the country’s ports to migrant search-and-rescue vessels.
In a Facebook post, Schembri said he doesn’t care if people brand him as a racist and that “the Maltese dream” is that “Malta belongs to the Maltese”.
The PN councillor passed his remarks after Malta agreed to take in 365 migrants that had been stranded on board the NGO-run vessel Ocean Viking for two weeks. After the migrants are processed in Malta, they will be distributed to France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania.
France alone will take in 150 of these migrants, in what Muscat described as the largest migrant relocation to a single country in the EU’s history.
Muscat today promised that such commitments are not empty words, noting that France recently sent a private jet to pick up migrants from Malta and that Germany will follow suit next week.
“We are showing the world that we don’t stamp our feet but rather that we want to be a proactive part of the solution, all while safeguarding the national interest,” he said. “I’m proud of the way Malta is handling this situation.”
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