A sizeable crowd this evening gathered in front of the Office of the Prime Minister in Valletta for a second anti-corruption protest.

The event was organized by a number of civil society groups, who are calling for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s resignation in the wake of this week’s developments.

A banner featuring Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, under the word ‘Mafia’, was erected in front of the Auberge de Castille. The theme song from mafia film The Godfather was played before the activity started.

Ann De Marco, Marion Pace Asciak, and Norman Vella addressed the square, with the common theme being calling out Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for his inaction against his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and one of his ministers Konrad Mizzi.

Vella, by far the most passionate out of the three speakers, drew a comparison between the €5,000 per day that a leaked email showed both Schembri and Mizzi would receive from Yorgen Fenech's Dubai-based company 17 Black and Macbridge, another Dubai-based company the owner of whom is still unknown, and between the wages that the average person earns.

He exclaimed that Mizzi and Schembri would earn what a person on a minimum wage or a pensioner made in a year in just two to three days. It would take them only a week to earn as much as a teacher, nurse, or police officer earns, he said.

"Not even you who work at Super One! I don't know how much you get paid, but it definitely isn't €5,000 per day!", he said before inviting the Labour party's media house to report what he had said so that labourites can see what their government is doing.

A protest held on Wednesday went out of control at times, with MPs heckled as they exited Parliament and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici becoming trapped in his car for a few minutes. 

 

Photos: Alenka Falzon