Balzan Pride flag burned during the night

An unknown individual has set fire to a Pride flag in Balzan hoisted by the local council as part of the Pride Week celebrations.

“The Balzan local council is shocked at the news that during the early hours of today, someone saw fit to burn the Pride flag raised by the local council... The council condemns this hateful act and shall be filing a police report accordingly. The council hopes that those responsible are brought to justice,” the council said in a Facebook post.

Balzan mayor Ian Spiteri has been quoted saying that CCTV footage showed a man acting suspiciously around the flag, adding that he could not say what the motive behind the attack was. An individual had already been called in for questioning, he said.

Deputy mayor Angelo Micallef said it was “shameful that in this day and age a simple symbolic gesture meant to send a message against discrimination still generates such hateful acts”.

Speaking during a conference on gender equality this morning, Equality Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said acts of vandalism showed more than ever before that, despite improvement to Malta’s laws, there was still more to be done as far as changing people’s mentality is concerned.