A group of migrants locked up at the Safi detention centre staged a freedom protest last night in which they begged to be released from their captivity.

TVM reported that the migrants gathered in the detention centre’s central yard at around 10:30 pm and started banging on the gates and shouting “Freedom…we want freedom.”

The majority of the migrants are believed to be among the 365 people who were brought to Malta recently after spending some two weeks aboard the Ocean Viking search and rescue vessel. They are being kept in the detention centre ahead of a planned relocation to other EU member states.

Police officers, including from the Special Intervention Unit, the Mounted Section and the Dog’s Section, as well as a number of soldiers were called in to control the protest.