Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said he senses a clear shift in the public mood with regards migrants since two soldiers were charged last weekend with the murder of Ivorian national Lassana Cisse Souleymane.

“If there’s something positive we can take away from this, it’s that I sense a shift in the public mood,” Muscat said. “Lets be clear; there are tensions in our society which are there in every small and insular society. Sometimes the temperature increases and sometimes it decreases.”

“However, if it was acceptable last week to tolerate people venting far-right comments on the media, it is not acceptable anymore. Jokes or perceived jokes which would have made people laugh until last week are no longer acceptable.”

“Theres a symbiosis between government and society here and the mood has shifted”

This comment would well have been a thinly-veiled dig at Imperium Europa leader Norman Lowell, who has given a number of TV interviews throughout this election campaign, claiming that blacks are genetically inferior to whites.

The Prime Minister gave his assessment on Malta’s public mood during a meeting at Castille with the Forum on Integration Affairs, which is composed of representatives of the island’s foreign communities.

He said the time has come for the government to fully implement its own integration within “its frame of mind”.

“This integration forum is the ideal forum to see how to move on in the coming weeks and months,” he said. “We need to spell out clearly what our destination is.”

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]