It was a delicate balancing act at times. At one point, a woman came up to me and began spitting venom at Daphne Caruana Galizia, eight years after she was murdered by powerful forces in society, accusing her of insulting PL supporters who had cancer, something she never actually did.

I was regularly accused of “provoking” them by asking them simple questions about the case they had to come to protest about. Some of these discussions were caught on camera.

However, I never got the sense that things were going to get out of hand and it never escalated beyond verbal insults. It was unpleasant at times but most of it wasn’t personal and I viewed myself as a mere outlet they could vent at.

In fact, after venting, many supporters calmed down, spoke openly and joked around, one of them even bought me a coffee.

They kept stressing about how calm they were behaving, and how none of them spat or threw bags of urine at journalists, and when a media house claimed they had damaged Daphne Caruana Galizia’ memorial, some protestors were visibly offended.

“Why are they saying we damaged the Daphne memorial?” one man asked me. “Look, there it is, we didn’t touch it.”

While they were on the same page in terms of supporting Muscat, there were clearly different shades of belief.

Some people seemed to view politics like a football game, an “us vs them” dichotomy. They were utterly convinced of Muscat’s innocence and kept regurgitating his recent talking points.

“First it was a Russian, now it’s an Indian.”

“You’re all part of the establishment.”

“€11 million was spent and no proof was found.”

“It’s the second Egrant.”

Others were more nuanced about the situation though.

“I’m not convinced that he’s innocent but some people have already made it out as though he’s guilty,” one man told me. “I trust the man. If I put my trust in the wrong person, so be it, but the courts will decide that now.”

“Wherever there is money and people, there will always be corruption,” another cynical man told me.

Others tried to downplay the situation by pointing out that Muscat hadn’t been arrested but charged by citation, and that the charges are still “allegations” at this stage.

One of them tried to play down the seriousness of the situation by pointing out that Muscat hadn’t been arrested but has been charged by citation.

Another man stressed that the charges against Muscat are currently still “allegations” because they are still in the compilation of evidence stage.

“Don’t you believe that he should be innocent until proven guilty?” he asked.

“Of course I do.”

“Oh, OK.”

Many people brought up cases that happened under a Nationalist administration over a decade ago, including some that took place when I was still a child.

The oil scandal, the Mater Dei concrete scandal, and the €600 weekly ministerial pay rise were brought up repeatedly. There was a sense that the media didn’t take these cases as seriously as they are taking the Vitals case, and that even if PL government exponents did something seriously wrong, the alternative was way worse.

A running theme around the crowds was that Muscat had improved their lives in a very tangible manner and they remained grateful to him for it. Higher pensions, cheaper electricity bills, government cheques, and a general improvement in their standard of living were mentioned again and again.

“Thanks to Muscat, I can go on holiday to Sicily,” one woman cried out.

It’s hardly surprising. Poverty is a brutal way of life and if you find yourself at the bottom, often through no fault of your own, you’re naturally going to be very grateful to anyone who can pull you out of it. For good or ill, several people remain grateful to Muscat.

While there was a lot of pain, anger, confusion, and perhaps even early signs of cognitive dissonance in the crowds, this sense of gratitude was overarching.

Although it is irrelevant to the justice process that kicked off yesterday, it is extremely relevant to politics and the way many people think, and it should not be brushed aside.