People waiting to catch the Gozo ferry back to Malta on Sunday morning were appalled by the behaviour of two men – Maltese or Gozitans – who punched and kicked a Spaniard who was playing the harmonica.

Eyewitnesses contacted The Malta Independent to express their disgust, one of them saying that after the incident he had gone to speak to the victim to apologise “on behalf of our country because I did not want to tourist to go back home speaking badly about us”.

The incident happened at around 5am at the Mgarr terminal. As people were waiting for the ferry, the Spaniard picked up his harmonica and started to play it. This apparently annoyed a group of local men, two of whom approached the tourist and told him to stop, punching and kicking him while doing so, the eyewitnesses said.

The other passengers helplessly watched on as they were too afraid to enter the fray, seeing that the two men formed part of a much larger group.

It is understood that the Spaniard spoke to a policeman about the incident but it is not known whether a formal report was lodged.

Contacted by The Malta Independent, Gozo Channel chairman Joe Cordina said that he had not heard about the incident. When asked if he felt security should be beefed up at the terminal, he said that the police station is a stone’s throw away from the terminal.

“There’s always police presence at the terminal to deal with such incidents; it is not the first time arguments ensued at the terminal,” he added.