Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana held a protest march in Valletta yesterday, during which prominent members of the organisation, Martin Degiorgio and Pawlu Salomone, made speeches to the crowd, which assembled in Great Siege Square.

The main thrust behind Mr Degiorgio’s speech was that Malta could not cope with the burden placed on it by irregular immigration. Mr Salomone’s speech was much more fiery and was targeted at sections of the media and against politicians.

Some of those present carried placards or banners bearing the words: “This is an invasion, not immigration”, “Harsh sentences for human traffickers” and “Solidarity with the AFM”.

The march began at City Gate in Valletta where the Integra Foundation, Third World Group, Indymedia, Malta Gay Rights Movement and Moviment Graffitti unfurled a banner condemning racism.

Mr Degiorgio began his speech by saying that all those present were patriots who wanted to defend their country. He also said that as more time went by, the ANR was getting stronger.

He said that the influx of immigrants into Malta should not be the country’s problem alone, but also belonged to Europe and Libya. The EU was taking Malta for a ride, he said, with small contributions of funds to face the problem.

The ANR was a united front, said Mr Degiorgio, and red and blue did not matter within its ranks as it was one unified voice that was speaking.

He added that Malta needed to guard against the threat of silent immigration from eastern Europe and Asia, claiming that many arrivals come on a student visa and never leave the country.

He also questioned why jobs were being given out willy-nilly to immigrants while Maltese people were looking for work. “And we also have the police and the AFM who are acting as nursemaids to these people,” he said.

Mr Degiorgio urged the government to crack down on employers who illegally employ immigrants and pay them a pittance. He concluded by appealing to everyone present to be ambassadors for the ANR’s cause. He said that genuine refugees should be helped, but added that the majority were not. There was no such thing as an “irregular immigrant”, he said – they were all illegal immigrants. He said that the ANR should continue with its moderate stance as there were factions of the media who were trying to discredit them.

Pawlu Salomone launched into tirades against sections of the local media. He said that the turnout for the protest march was low because many people had been threatened into not attending. However, he said that violence was not the ANR’s weapon – it was truth. He lambasted all three political parties and urged people not to vote.

He said that all Maltese had a duty to protect what their forefathers had worked so hard for in the past and to be patriots for the country.

Following the march, there were a few animated discussions with various television crews who were taking comments from the crowd.