Prime Minister Robert Abela has condemned the racist chanting and Nazi salutes that engulfed an anti-migrant counter-protest to the Black Lives Matter demonstration in Valletta.

“I condemn it most categorically. I cannot accept that people believe in this distinction based on colour. We are all people, and we cannot let the colour of our skin or nationality divide us,” he said.

On Monday, a BLM protest was called in view of the George Floyd protests in America and cases of racial injustice in Malta. An ‘All Lives Matter’ counter-protest was called, with the group shouting “f’ġħoxx is-suwed” and “kick them out”.

Some even booed when demonstrators took the knee for Lassana Cisse, a migrant allegedly murdered by two army officers. A Nazi salute was even seen among the group of ALM protestors.

Abela stressed that while the government would remain firm on irregular migration, the Maltese public should always keep the humanitarian aspect of saving lives out at sea into account.

“We have to look at them with compassion. Crossing the Mediterranean at risk of death is a sign that they’re desperate, regardless of whether they are asylum seekers or economic migrants,” he said.

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