[WATCH] Self-styled 'patriots' blame politicians for racial hatred, decry ‘systematic discrimination’

Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin demand airtime to explain how Malta is being lost to foreigners.

Despite boasting of being backed by over 13,000 people, Malta’s self-declared patriots only managed to mobilise a mere 100 demonstrators to their much-awaited protest at PBS’s “discrimination.”

Shouting chants such as ‘Malta’ and ‘No to discrimination’, and wearing shirts reading ‘Je Suis Malti’ and ‘No to Integration’, the handful of protesters braved the morning sun and quickly made their way outside the PBS’s offices in Guardamangia to protest at what their leader Alex Pisani referred to as “systematic discrimination.”

Armed with a megaphone and waving several Maltese flags, the self-declared Organisation of Maltese Patriots (Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin) blamed Maltese politicians and journalists alike for inciting hatred among the Maltese and third refugees.

“Malta is not a racist country. It is unfair that migrants and third country nationals are bestowed more rights and granted more attention than the Maltese citizens. Malta should wake up before it is lost to the hands of those who impose their presence on us and have the audacity to demand more rights than the locals ... This is what is creating hatred between the Maltese and the refugees,” Norman Scicluna, the Organisation’s media officer, said. 

Undeterred by the poor turnout, the Patriots heralded those who attended as being “true Maltese” and “patriots,” and a rather optimistic Scicluna sought to derive the (little) positive out of the poor turnout by insisting that they were sending a message that the Maltese do exist and that they represent all 400,000 Maltese.

The Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin has insisted that their protests are aimed at ending discrimination and are not racist. Moreover, despite their president previously expressing concerns over 'Ebola-infected fish' after the 500 migrants died in a shipwreck, the organisation repeatedly reiterated that their protest is intended "on bestowing more rights to the Maltese".

During the protest, members of the Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin were also seen collecting signatures to organise a referendum on the integration of migrants into Maltese society. The number of signatories has, according to Pisani, already reached 13,000.

“We will be happy when they [refugees] are sent back to their country and when no one else is allowed to enter Malta,” Alex Pisani, the president of the self-declared patriots, said. 

Pisani also took umbrage at the PBS for “systemically refusing to send journalists to organisation’s events for the past ten months.”

“When the migrants protested, their event was covered by the PBS and was given utmost importance. This is not accepted by a national broadcaster paid out of public taxes,” he said. Echoing Pisani, Henry Battistino, the Patriots’ Secretary General, called on the PBS to take note of the calls being rallied by “the thousands of Maltese.”

“When we watch PBS we do not want to hear the same liberal speakers who are not representing us. Conversely, we want a mix of speakers for our opinion to be voiced,” he said. Furthermore, the Patriots, together with another 14 groups also demanded they are given a TV programme dedicated to explain their eurosceptic stance and opposition against EU’s migration policies.