Far-rightists take C-star crew to pose for photos outside shuttered PM’s office

The far-right crew of Defend Europe’s C-Star were given a ride and taken to Valletta, where they posed for photos alongside members of the far-right Moviment Patrijotti Maltin (MPM) outside the building that houses the Prime Minister’s office.

The choice of location was a direct message to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who has blocked entry to the anti-migrant vessel.

The vessel, which planned on warding off migrants and migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean, was predominantly funded with donations on a crowdfunding website.

The mission has been an undisputed failure: the ship had to avoid unfriendly ports and threats as it made its way towards the Libyan coast. The vessel was then prevented from entering Libyan waters by the Libyan coastguard, rending its mission a failure.

Stranded some 15 miles off Malta’s coast, the crew of the C-star has been receiving supplies from the MPM after a social media campaign in which it urged supporters to donate food, water, cigarettes, and other supplies.

The Prime Minister said the government had denied the ship entry because there was no place for extremists in Malta.

Our questions to @JosephMuscat_JM and the @MaltaGov
We are going to #Malta wether you like it or not!#defendeurope pic.twitter.com/W7ed4y0dK8

— Defend Europe (@DefendEuropeID) August 27, 2017

Earlier today, the crew posted a video on social media praising the MPM members for “breaking the embargo” and giving them food. The ‘embargo’ the far-rightists refer to is the government’s decision banning entry to the vessel.

“Whether you like it or not, we will go to Malta and enter European soil as Europeans,” the crew, who described Muscat as “a hypocrite”, said in the video message.

A spokesperson for the government told MaltaToday that the government’s position still stands and that the ship would not be allowed entry.

Stopping the ship from entering the port however does not mean that members of the crew cannot find alternative means to enter Malta – as in fact they did.

“Together we went in front of the bureau (sic) of Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. He wanted to deny us water and entrance to Malta and, like all the others, he failed miserably,” Defend Europe said.

Recently, Euronews reported how, after the C-Star risked being held up by local authorities or even attacked in the Sicilian port of Catania when they stopped to pick up European activists, the Generation Identity group organised an operation to fly members to Cyprus and embark in secret there.

Now, Defend Europe is calling on its followers to share the photo of the crew standing with the banner outside Castille “to show Joseph Muscat that we won!”