The Labour Party’s councillors section accused the Nationalist Party’s Sunday paper Il-Mument of making racist comments and called on it to make an immediate public apology.

In an unsigned article, the section said, a writer in the PN newspaper implied that black people were inferior to others. The article, aimed to attack Hamrun mayor Luciano Busuttil personally, said in part: “Dr Busuttil qal li l-Kunsill ta Lm4,600 lill-kazini tal-banda. Nistaqsu jekk hux se jaghtu wkoll lill-banda tal-Parrocca tal-Kuncizzjoni. Jekk le, ghaliex, mela dawn suwed?” (Freely translated this is “Dr Busuttil said the council had given Lm4,600 to band clubs. Are they also going to give money to the band of the parish of the Immaculate Conception. If not, why not, are these black?”)

Such comments, the MLP section said, deserved only condemnation because they showed intolerance and racial discrimination.