[WATCH] Minister condemns 'lies' as ‘patriots’ hand out pork during anti-Islam protest

Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin protest in Msida against Muslim public prayers

The self-styled organisation of Maltese patriots (Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin) handed out pork sandwiches for free during a protest in Msida against a group of Muslims who have recently started praying in the village square.

Patriots’ leader Alex Pisani told the crowd of some 200 protestors that their decision to hand out the sandwiches was “an act of solidarity” with children of the St Paul's Bay primary school who he said are forbidden from eating pork at school due to its high population of Muslim students.

However, education minister Evarist Bartolo was quick to dismiss the patriot leader’s claim as a “lie”.

“The school is an example to adults about how people of different cultures, religions and ethnicities can live together peacefully,” he said on Facebook.  

In his speech at the protest, Pisani warned that the Maltese race will be destroyed if Muslim women “continue breeding at such a fast rate”.

“Look at the Muslim women in the street, many of them have around five children,” he said.

“We have one religion in Malta, which is Roman Catholicism, and we don't want Muslims praying in public,” Pisani said, urging people present to sign a petition against forced integration and to refrain from passing racist comments to the press.

He called on the government to follow France’s lead and ban the burqa from public spaces due to it being a “threat to security” and warned that Sliema “has become like Saudi Arabia”.

“Malta comes first and foremost,” he said, citing former prime minister Dom Mintoff’s slogan. 

The organisation’s vice-president Henry Battistino criticised “liberal Marxists” who defended the right of Muslims to pray in public by drawing comparisons to Catholic feasts and processions.

“They are inverted racists who want to conceal the truth from the public,” he said. “Malta is constitutionally a Catholic country. How can we be compared to people who will threaten you if you leave the house wearing a small crucifix?

“This is a Catholic country, and they should leave if a bit of ham or a small crucifix offends them.”

Jeweller George Tabone said he is “surprised that progressives defend a Muslim culture that is stuck in the Middle Ages.”

“Their culture is extremely far-right and doesn’t respect women and LGBT people,” he said. “I have nothing different races or against Maltese people marrying people or adopting children of different races. I have a problem with people who are in favour of every kind of culture, except the Maltese one.”

He dismissed the Malta Muslim Council Foundation’s recent calls on the authorities to assist it in finding a suitable venue in which to pray.

“The majority of Maltese people don’t want them to pray in public, and common sense dictates that they shouldn’t proceed with an activity that upsets the majority, he said. “They say that they don’t have enough locations in which to pray, but I spproach it from another angle and say that there are too many Muslims in Malta and that those who are here illegally should be sent back home.” 

‘Patriot’ Simon Borg insinuated that any new mosques might have to be constructed on land outside development zones.

“The Muslims want ten new mosques, but where do they want them built – on ODZ land?

“Also, if we build ten mosques, then will we also build ten temples for Jews, Hindus and Buddhists? If we don’t, then will that not be racist against them?

“If the Muslims aren’t satisfied with the number of mosques in Malta, then they should get out of the country.”