Prime Minister Robert Abela had eggs thrown at his feet during his Freedom Day speech by a man, who claimed the government was "destroying" Malta’s neutrality. 

The "heckler" later came out as Ivan Grech Mintoff, leader of the political party ABBA. The party said in a statement they were launching a disobedience campaign on Freedom Day "to get back what was stolen from us".

A video of the incident doing the rounds on social media.

As Freedom Day celebrations were held on Tuesday evening, Abela’s speech dedicated a good amount of time to extolling the virtues of peace and freedom, with a few thinly veiled digs lobbed at EP President Roberta Metsola and the Nationalist Party for good measure. 

For weeks, Abela has been aiming at Metsola over her calls for the EU to increase its defence spending to strengthen Europe’s positions in the wake of global political developments. 

The PM accused her of fanning the flames of further conflict by proposing the purchase of more weapons instead of making an unwavering commitment to peace. 

However, at a European Council summit last week, Abela voted in agreement with European Council Conclusions to bolster EU defence spending. 

A spokesperson for the PM later said that Abela only voted in favour of the plans after Malta successfully pushed for the introduction of clauses that protect the island's neutrality.

Abela told party faithful on Tuesday that the Labour Party is a “movement of love and peace” and that the principles of neutrality are part of why the concept of Freedom Day is important. 

“To work towards peace, you have to love your neighbour and love them with actions and not just words,” he said. 

“To do this, you have to bring people around a negotiating table and not ask to roll out the tanks of war.” 

The topic of war seems to have struck deep with some of those in attendance, as some time later, the voice of a man could be heard shouting to interrupt Abela. 

“Tell them the truth about Malta’s neutrality... you’ve destroyed Malta’s neutrality,” the person could be heard saying. 

The incident on video making the rounds on social media.

“You’ve made it as thin as an eggshell … the PL youth are going to be sent to war,” the shouting trailed off. 

Abela appealed for calm and it is unclear whether the man managed to get closer to the prime minister on the stage, as the live stream camera panned momentarily to the Freedom Day monument. 

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