Nearly 24 hours after the incident in which a police officer detailed with Minister Manuel Mallia shot in the direction of a car following a car chase, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat broke his silence to say that he was "angry and disgusted" with the incident.

The minister himself expressed the same sentiment in a meeting held at Castille this afternoon, a Department of Information statement said.

The Opposition has called on the PM to removed Dr Mallia from minister, but there was no hint of this in the statement issued tonight.

"The situation as it escalated is not acceptable. There is no place for people who use their position in a way that could be interpreted as being abusive and excessive."

The PM and Dr Mallia agreed that strong action was necessary against the person involved, including his removal from assignments to the ministry and his suspension from the corps. In this case, the minister's trust in this person - police officer Paul Sheehan - was broken.

The Prime Minister said he is waiting for the outcome of the magisterial inquiry into the incident, which he hoped will not take long.

In reply, the Nationalist Party said that if the PM is really angry and disgusted, he should have the courage to take all the necessary steps. The only way out is the removal of Minister Mallia from his post after he was caught lying to cover up the incident that had taken place.

The PM is shirking his responsibility and is afraid of taking steps against Dr Mallia. He is weak in the face of abuse of power, the PN said.