[WATCH] Anti-corruption activists protest outside parliament: 'Mafia octopus has taken control of the country'

Anti-corruption activists held a protest outside parliament as they renewed calls for full justice in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case.

Repubblika president Robert Aquilina made heavy use of the “piovra” metaphor, a direct Italian translation of the word octopus, largely used to refer to the Mafia.

Activists gathered in the square outside parliament (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

The protest is centred around the concept of 'La Piovra' (The octopus), which is a common metaphor referring to the mafia (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

“This octopus that has taken control of the country wants to remain hidden. It wants to convince us that it doesn’t exist. It crept into the depths of our institutions, and it has tentacles everywhere,” he told activists who remained seated on socially-distanced chairs in the square outside parliament.

“For how long have we been hearing that the institutions are working? We heard it when Daphne started writing about the Panama Papers, while Konrad Mizzi was appointed Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,” Aquilina remarked. 

“We heard it again when Melvin Theuma – the middleman in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia – was having coffee with Keith Schembri at Castille, took a photo with him, and was offered a phantom job.”

Protestors are calling for full justice in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

The protest follows another one held last week outside the Justice Ministry calling for Rosianne Cutajar's resignation (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

“When we say full justice, we’re not talking about the bomb that killed Daphne. We’re also talking about everything that led to the placing of the bomb, about what happened after the bomb exploded,” he said.

His speech ended on a word of warning that they will continue to protest on the matter.

The activists projected images of key individuals that have at some point been named in connection to the murder case (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

Louiselle Vassallo, an activist with #occupyjustice, spoke with similar sentiment, questioning the functioning of Maltese institutions given controversies surrounding high profile politicians, from Konrad Mizzi to Rosianne Cutajar. 

“If the institutions were working, Konrad Mizzi wouldn’t be a member of parliament,” she said. “Every project he touched is dubious. The secret Panama accounts he opened were intentioned to receive money from public projects, not ‘to populate them with his assets’ as he said.”

“If the institutions were working, the ex-Parliamentary Secretary Rosianne Cutajar wouldn’t feel comfortable accepting €46,500, with an added €9,000, worth of cash with no intention of declaring them,” she said.

Vassallo stated that those directly or indirectly involved in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder must be arraigned in court before one could say that the institutions are working.

The protest was organised by civil society NGOs Repubblika, #occupyjustice and manueldelia.com.

Last week, Repubblika activists turned up outside the Justice Ministry to call for Rosianne Cutajar's removal following revelations  of her close relationship with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.