Watch: Adrian Delia Avoided Caruana Galizia Protests ‘Due To Red Paint Warning’
Former PN leader Adrian Delia reportedly avoided attending certain protests held in the aftermath of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder due to information that protestors might throw red paint at him.
During a recent interview on Ricky Caruana’s podcast, Pierre Portelli – who served as Delia’s head of media – recounted some of the daily internal problems the PN leader faced during that turbulent political period.
“I would have assumed that once a leader was elected, everyone would come together and that those who disagreed with him would try to help him change,” he said. “Instead he was warned that he would have red paint thrown at him if he went to Valletta to attend a civil society protest.”
Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of Delia and regularly clashed with the PN leader in the months leading up to her assassination in October 2017. Delia opened four libel suits against her after she had linked him to a prostitution racket in Soho, which he dropped as soon as she was killed.
“When he didn’t go so as not to stir problems, because there was a constant fear that the party would split over and above the party’s financial problems, people would write opinion pieces criticising him for not attending the protest. It became impossible.”
Fear of provoking the crowds was also apparently the reason why former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat advised Cyrus Engerer not to attend the initial vigil for Caruana Galizia.
“My concern was that, with all the good intentions in the world, the attendance of anyone associated to Labour could have been seen as a provocation,” Muscat said in comments to the Times.
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