The Alleanza Nazzjonali Republikana (ANR) will be organising a campaign against irregular immigration in the coming weeks. The first public event will be a protest march in Valletta on 5 June, alliance spokesperson Martin Degiorgio said yesterday.

Although the authorities had made some progress toward solving the problem of immigration, Mr Degiorgio said, another public protest would hopefully help to increase the momentum.

He said that many made the mistake of identifying immigrants as those coming only from the African continent, “but there are hundreds of others, from East European countries, who are working in Malta illegally”.

Mr Degiorgio said that there had been a silent invasion of cheap foreign labour into local industry with result that several Maltese were being prevented from taking up possible employment opportunities.

He said the ANR was surprised that unions did not speak out against this threat and in defence of Maltese workers.

Mr Degiorgio said that repatriation was not done properly. The EU ‘has let us down’ on the issue of immigration, he said, and reiterated the alliance’s stand in favour of detention as official policy.

ANR’s logistics director Paul Salomone said a team of stewards will be present during the protest to guide marchers along Republic Street. He added that placards with racial messages would not be allowed.

Mr Degiorgio also referred to the recent spate of violence and vandalism on individuals and their property, saying that the movement strongly condemned such actions.