Bernard Grech on Monday urged PL MPs to "speak up" about issues within the government that bothered them, as he addressed a crowd that met in front of parliament for a protest organised by the PN.

People started gathering in front of parliament, where the Beasty Boys' Fight for Your Right was playing at around 5.45pm.

A poster featuring prime minister Robert Abela with the slogal "frodi biss, frodi spiss" ('just fraud, frequent fraud') was hung above the shopping arcades in front of the parliament building.

A poster hung up across from the parliament building. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Access to Freedom Square - which is where the parliament building is situated - was blocked from Victory Street. The square remained accessible from City Gate.

The protest was called by the PN in the wake of the scandal involving the tourism and Gozo ministers and a lucrative job given to Clayton Bartolo's wife Amanda Muscat.

Bartolo has since been forced to resign from the Cabinet and the Labour parliamentary group.

Prime Minister Robert Abela said last week the decision to resign was taken in light of a second scandal that emerged concerning Bartolo and which Times of Malta asked questions about some days ago. 

Times of Malta exclusively revealed that the police received a report into suspicious payments that Bartolo’s wife received over a six-month period in 2023.

It is the second protest in as many weeks, with the PN insisting Clint Camilleri should also be made to resign.

Protestors questioned why Clint Camilleri retained his ministerial post. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

On Monday morning, PN's leader Bernard Grech said the demonstration will also celebrate "the people’s victory", after it was revealed that the State Advocate has the power to act independently of any government direction to recover funds swindled in the fraudulent hospitals concession.

The Chief Justice quashed a previous decision handed down by the First Hall, Civil Court. The appeal had been instituted by the Nationalist Party, which insists that State Advocate Chris Soler should and could take court action, independently of the government, to recover €400 million handed by the government to Vitals and later Steward Healthcare in connection with the hospitals' concession which was later declared fraudulent by the courts.  

Some protestors carried pig toys. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Others wore pig masks. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

On Monday evening protestors carried toy pigs, while some wore pig masks themselves. 

Others waved banners questioning why, unlike Bartolo, Camilleri had retained his ministerial portfolio.

Photo of protestors in Valletta on Monday evening: Partit Nazzjonalista

Friends Catherine Gatt and Lorenza Sacco dressed up for "the win" handed to people by the courts on Monday morning.

The duo said that despite the celebration, they were still protesting Camilleri's refusal to resign. 

Catherine Gatt and Lorenza Sacco. Photo: Emma Borg

Michaela Ann Bayliss, a 21-year-old Mosta local councillor said she was present at the event because it was unfair that people in power got jobs easily while others worked hard for their degrees.

The rain later in the evening did not deter protestors.

Just after 7.20pm, while Grech was addressing the crowd, some PL MPs - including Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Chris Bonett, Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, Miriam Dalli, Omar Farrugia, Alicia Bugeja Said and Jonathan Attard - were booed as they exited parliament. 

The crowd screamed "mafia", "thieves" and "give us back our money" in their direction.

Bernard Grech addressing the protest on Monday evening. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Addressing the court after a parliamentary sitting, Grech said the Bartolo-Camilleri case was not an isolated case, but one in a chain of theft of public funds, abuse of power, clientelism and protection of wrongdoing.

“There is almost no sector or ministry that is free of the clasp of this chain. I can mention 100 cases – 100 links in this chain. However, today I’ll mention just 10:

“They defrauded the vulnerable through the social benefits racket; stole €400million from hospitals and patients; defrauded the country through the Identita’ agency racket; gave contracts worth thousands of euros to people whose only qualification is that they are close to the PL; an ex-Gozo minister gave a phantom job to her partner; another ex-Gozo minister kept a historical artefact in his garden; created a driving tests racket; another racket when it comes to overtime and fines; created an atmosphere in the country that led to the murder of a journalist; and a PL MP admitted that within the government, everyone pigs out.

Grech said nothing shocked people anymore because they did not expect any better from the government.

The PN leader said the chain of events had led Abela to consider a number of U-turns.

“The list of U-turns became longer with time. Nowadays, when Abela takes a stand on something, we immediately ask: let’s see how long it will take for him to make a U-turn.”

Grech claimed the prime minister was not guided by basic principles that every politician should have: principles of truth, transparency, justice, democracy and liberty.

In his speech, Grech reiterated his call on members of the cabinet and PL MPs of goodwill not to remain silent: “Be brave, speak up and fix this government as there will be a time when the people will carry out their own judgement”.

Grech also urged people to join the PN because a wave of change had already been set in motion. 

“The PM has his back against the wall and is turning to very dangerous attacks.

“We are full of courage and energy so that, in the near future, you will win, Malta will win and Gozo will win. But for Malta and Gozo to win – especially Gozo – Camilleri needs to go, because he is guilty of fraud as much – if not more – than Bartolo."

PN health spokesperson Adrian Delia addressing the crowd. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

PN spokesperson for health Adrian Delia also addressed “Nationalists and Labourites of goodwill who have had enough”.

The former PN leader lambasted the government for “importing” 22,000 people from outside the country every year but not being able to retain the country’s own youth here. He also called out Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela for “shamelessly blaming” hospital waiting lists on the fact the elderly were living longer.

Malta’s win on Monday morning had not come about because the island the best government in the world, but because the Opposition protected people’s interests, he told the crowd.

He said that the €400million “stolen” from the people through the hospitals’ deal was the equivalent of “5,714 ministers’ wives”, in a dig at the nearly €70,000 Muscat received for her consultancy job.

Monday’s win, he said, was a win in favour of democracy, institutions and liberty.

MCAST lecturer Stef Formosa addressing the crowd. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The crowd was on Monday also addressed by an MCAST lecturer who urged Abela and Education Minister Clifton Grima to solve the ongoing dispute with MCAST lecturers and their union.

“Stop the dragging of the feet and prioritise the issue. It is not fair on lecturers, and more so students, who are the country’s future,” Stef Formosa said.

“Our students have a right to education and we have a duty to teach them. So instead of focusing on how to hide your wrongdoings, focus on this pitiful situation that you have put us in yourselves.

“The collective agreement expired three years ago, and we are being deprived of our rights. Do not continue ignoring the situation and prioritise our children’s education as this is a serious problem.”

Formosa, whose career in education spans 30 years told those present that she was frustrated, discouraged and angry: “I have never – in all the years I spent at MCAST – experienced such an ugly and offensive situation.”