[WATCH] Crowd jeers at Robert Abela as he exits Castille at the end of the Jean Paul Sofia vigil

Prime Minister Robert Abela was jeered by the crowd as he exited Auberge de Castille at the end of the Jean Paul Sofia vigil in Valletta.

Abela was met with chants of ‘shame on you’, ‘mafia’ and ‘chicken’ as he made his way down the main steps to the side of the building where a car was waiting for him.

The Prime Minister was escorted by his personal security team and other police officers.

Times of Malta reported someone threw a bottle towards the Prime Minister’s car as it made off down Merchants Street.

Thousands had gathered at Castille Square for a vigil in memory of Jean Paul Sofia. The vigil had ended but people were still gathered in the square placing candles on the steps of Castille when Abela exited his office.

At one point Abela was seen talking to Michael Fenech Adami, the former Nationalist mayor of Birkirkara and son of president emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami, who helped escort the Prime Minister out of the crowd.

Throughout the gathering the main door of Castille remained open and there was minimal police presence.

The vigil was a peaceful gathering, except for the occasional booing when presenter Peppi Azzopardi and Sofia’s mother, Isabelle Bonnici, thanked Abela for announcing a public inquiry. Bonnici also thanked Opposition leader Bernard Grech for supporting her call.

Earlier, Abela met Sofia’s parents at Castille to inform them of his decision to appoint a public inquiry into the incident.

Sofia died last December when a building still under construction collapsed at the Corradino industrial estate. His mother had been calling for a public inquiry for the past seven months.

The government U-turn came less than a week after the Labour Party parliamentary group voted in parliament against a motion by the Opposition calling for a public inquiry.

Government had until Monday morning been insisting on a rapid conclusion of the magisterial inquiry with Abela insisting it was the most adequate instrument to ensure justice is done.

However, during the day it became known that the inquiring magistrate had taken another extension, with the inquiry now entering its eighth month.

Abela cited this extension as the reason for his change of heart.