Prime Minister Robert Abela said that while the police will be left to do its job, he feels that the circumstances of the migrants onboard the Captain Morgan tourist boats where there was an escalation of violence must be kept in mind if an investigation is to be opened.

425 migrants were disembarked in Malta in the early hours of Sunday morning after the situation on one of the tourist boats on which some were being held – that boat being Captain Morgan’s Europa II – escalated to a point where the safety of the ship’s crew and security forces was put at risk.

Speaking on Sunday morning after the migrants had disembarked, Abela described the incident as one where some migrants stole knives from the ship’s kitchen and threatened to blow up gas cylinders onboard if the government did not let them into port.

The decision was ultimately taken to allow the vessels to disembark the migrants into Malta.  Some of them had been onboard the boats for over 40 days by that point, having been rescued by Maltese armed forces and with no European solidarity in sight.

Asked by The Malta Independent whether, given that the way in which the Prime Minister had described the incident made it seem like it was a hijacking, the police will be carrying out any investigations into the matter and those who led the escalation, Abela said that this is a matter where the Police must decide and be left to carry out their own work.

“I will make a generic comment though; while I condemn the type of escalation in this incident – without influencing the police’s work – we must remember the context in which these migrants were in”, he said.

“They were at sea in storms, rain, and sun for 40 days, and I always insist on speaking with a sense of humanity – so we must understand the circumstances they were in”, he added.

It is not known whether the police are in fact carrying out investigations into the incident which happened onboard the Europa II.

Asked about the same issue by other media houses, Abela said that the decision to house the migrants onboard tourist boats was made due to the unprecedented situation that Malta’s ports were closed and that authorities wanted to ensure that there were no cases of Covid-19 imported into the islands.

He said that Malta had followed its obligations for rescue coordination and indeed rescue, noting that if it were left to certain other countries who speak of solidarity, they would simply have had a plane fly over and left the migrants there.

He said that one must treat these migrants as what they are – humans who are simply seeking a better life away from very real hardships in their home land.

He said that steps had been made with the European Union, but added that these were not concrete.  Work on relocation of these migrants will continue and even intensify, he added.

Abela also condemned the words used by Gozo Channel chairman Joe Cordina towards a young activist who had been advocating for the migrants to be allowed to disembark, with the Prime Minister saying that he condemns “all form of hate speech.”

Cordina was contacted by this newsroom earlier on Monday, where he apologised for his foul-worded comment.