PL Leadership candidate Robert Abela has said that the civil society protests happening now only have one purpose: to provoke.
Civil society groups have been protesting since the original arrest of 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech in relation to the assassination of Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Since then, Fenech has been arrested, but he also pointed the finger at former OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri. This has resulted in Muscat announcing his resignation, which will happen in January, but protesters say he should resign now, as they do not trust him to be at the head of the government while the investigation continues.
Abela, during an interview on ONE TV, said that he ‘tolerates’ passive protests, but will not ‘tolerate’ anyone breaking the country. He also said that he will not ’tolerate’ certain limits being crossed.
“If they manage to break, then they themselves will inherit a broken country, and then they would inherit a country with problems they would have created and would need to solve it themselves.”
“These are protests that I today believe that the only scope behind them is one of provocation.”
“At the moment one of us makes a mistake, and I think I am clear in what that mistake can be, there those protesting would win the largest win they could win.”
“The message is that calm and order must be kept, and that is what must continue to happen,” Abela said, adding that those who are protesting cannot, “because they know that as the government we have to keep calm and maintain order, then believe they can do whatever they want.”
PN MEPs reply
In reply, Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola wrote:
- Provocation is assassinating your critics; it is allowing the mafia to take over; it is protecting criminals for years allowing them to loot our nation. Provocation is sending in the army for a dozen activists; barricading public spaces & conducting vile disinformation campaigns
- Provocation is going on TV to claim you are unhappier than an assassinated journalist's family at her killing; it is spending our money to fund criminal propaganda; it is allowing Ministers to cavort in brothels and empty taxpayer funded minibars while on Ministerial duty.
- Provocation is selling off our hospitals and healthcare to speculators; it is pouring laundered concrete onto our trees; it is allowing the pollution of the air our children have to breathe. Provocation is when you destroy the lives of hard-working honest citizens who play by the rules. It is flying friends in on private jets to do your bidding.
- Provocation is defending the indefensible for a handful of votes; it is allowing rampant corruption at every level of society; it is promulgating the politics of hate and division to protect the mafia. It is the lies, half-truths and stonewalling.
- Provocation is mocking a murder victim’s parents & children by taking smiling selfies as they’re outside asking for justice. Provocation is destroying a memorial every day for two years because the mafia’s conscience cannot be cleared.
You should be apologising to the nation your Party has betrayed. You should be grovelling for forgiveness and coming up with plans to fix our broken system to ensure this never happens again. You should be demanding Muscat goes now so our nation can start to move forward. Instead, you talk of provocation. Disgraceful.
David Casa wrote:
The man running for Prime Minister thinks national protests are being held to instigate “provocation”.
You’ve understood nothing Robert Abela. Democracy and rule of law are not concepts you even remotely grasp. With your candidature, unfortunately the choice Malta is being given is just 'more of the same'.