From the online comments

President calls for ‘normality’

Myriam Spiteri Debono warns against provocation amid heightened political tensions

Well said, Madam President. In spite of what some media would have us believe, agente provocateurs on both sides are stoking the fires for their sordid political aims. – Frans Camilleri

Really? Pray, tell us how the opposition is stoking fires? Calling out the crime of the century is not an agenda! – Deborah Fenech

To be fair, under Labour, these things did become “normal”: corruption, money laundering, fraud, etc. So I guess we already achieved this sense of “normality” that the president is calling for. – James Buhagiar

Normality? Madam President signed a presidential pardon for over 200 Labour fraudsters. Is this normal? – J. Calleja

If the president was elected by the Maltese and had official duties and powers then she would have been more worth it than it is today because being imposed on a nation means nothing. She is just a figurehead. – Mario Attard

Dear president, we have seen not just demos but rampage in its worst form. I honestly hope that those days have passed to history. – Carmel Vella

Although she did not mention it directly, the president was ostensibly referring to a show of support planned today outside the court for former prime minister Joseph Muscat. We need a real prime minister who is expected to tell his party supporters that the party is against any form of gathering outside the courts. If not, then he is a puppet of his former prime minister. – Joez Borg

President Myriam Spiteri Debono. Photo: Jonathan Borg

May I ask where she has been living since 2013?

What we are experiencing today is nothing new but a build-up of arrogance by a government which thinks that just because they have a substantial majority they can steam over everyone and everything.

These are the same people who, within days of being elected, opened bank accounts for their illicit gains. They were disposed to do whatever possible to achieve their goals. They even conspired to place a joker when the bubble burst to thus retain control of the country. So, please, wake up and smell the bacon. – Joe Borg

I am really hoping her excellency has called in Robert Abela and told him to stop inciting violence. When Abela lied to his people that the PN is laying a trap for them in Valletta today, he is telling them to go there all fired up and armed for a fight. – Adrian Borg Cardona

‘Normality’ has now become a luxury that this country can no longer ostensibly afford. The way things are now is the new warped norm; how poor in spirit we have become. – Mark Cassar

Madam President, is protesting in support of the rape of our country and those being charged with perpetrating the heist, normal? We have already been provoked with your presidential pardon for those pilfering benefit schemes, while law-abiding citizens seethe and those who genuinely needed them suffer. Shameful. – A. Cassar

The country is being run by the mafia. What does she have to say about it? – M. Cassar

President Myriam Spiteri Debono called for “normality” to prevail in the coming days, insisting that nobody should provoke or fall for provocation, amid heightened political tensions. Well, well, well. I found the mass pardoning of social benefit fraudsters a provocation of epic proportions. And this one is solely on her. – Matthias Wille

I don’t mean any disrespect but ‘things’ in this country have been far from normal for the last 10 years or so and, now, it’s really starting to show. – Eric Mifsud