A clownish Robert Abela squints menacingly down at pedestrians walking through the Msida skatepark, in a carnival mural painted by street artist James Micallef Grimaud. 

The mural depicts the prime minister as a clown king, crown and all, as he grinds birds and a Maltese passport into mince. Dead birds lie on their backs all around him. Police chief Clancy Wiggum from US TV show The Simpsons features, doughnut in hand, as a satirical reflection of Malta’s police force. 

Behind the main characters is the unmistakable outline of an excavator. 

“Carnival seems to happen all year round in Malta!!” Micallef Grimaud wrote on Facebook, saying that last year was the “worst ever” for illegal hunting in Malta, with Mellieħa woodland areas Miżieb and L-Aħrax had been given over hunters’ federation FKNK. 

Micallef Grimaud, also known by his artistic name Twitch, is known for his overtly political work, as well as for transforming a massive shipyard crane into a colourful giraffe as part of a Valletta 2018 exhibit. 

Carnival celebrations, including the notorious Nadur carnival, were called off this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Authorities have also tightened rules for holiday rentals, fearing a spike in cases over carnival weekend. The rules appeared to have calmed travel to sister island Gozo, operators there said.

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