Watch: Neville Gafà filmed clearing Daphne memorial as embassies condemn move

Government employee Neville Gafà has been filmed removing tributes to Daphne Caruana Galizia from the Great Siege Memorial hours after the eighth anniversary of her murder, in a move that has angered various embassies that placed wreaths. 

The hidden camera footage, taken at around 3am on Friday - just a few hours after a march and vigil to honour Caruana Galizia - shows Gafà going back and forth several times.. 

He is seen removing flowers, wreaths, candles and placards left throughout the day by activists, family members, as well as several foreign dignitaries.   

The video does not show what Gafà does with the tributes. However, photos also sent to Times of Malta show them discarded in nearby dustbins.

Various embassies whose tributes ended up in the bin took to Facebook to express their anger. The Dutch embassy said it was appalled by Gafà’s actions. 

“Vandals can destroy our flowers, but they cannot destroy our support for keeping Daphne's memory alive. When you kill a journalist, you do not kill their stories!” a statement by the embassy read. 

The Irish embassy said a person’s impact could be measured by how much it continued to upset those who do not care for truth or courage. 

“Ireland's permanent memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia and others like her is in Dublin's Iveagh Gardens. Her admirers or detractors may visit anytime thanks to regular flights with Aer Lingus or RyanAir.” 

“Just like you can kill the journalist, but not the story, you can kill our flowers, but not our support for keeping Daphne's memory alive,” the German embassy wrote. 

It is understood a wreath laid by British High Commissioner Victoria Busby shared the same fate.  

The flowers and other tributes ended up in near dustbins.

Speaking to Times of Malta, an unapologetic Gafà confirmed he had removed the tributes, and said his actions were “guided by a sense of civic responsibility and respect for Malta’s cultural heritage.” 

“The Great Siege Monument is a national monument commemorating one of the most significant events in Maltese history - the Great Siege of 1565. It is a symbol of courage, unity, and national resilience. As such, it deserves the utmost respect and protection,” he said. 

Asked whether removing the tributes hours after the anniversary could be seen as insensitive, Gafà insisted that he did not have an issue with other tributes taking place. 

“They had the vigil in Bidnija and another in Valletta, but they’ve been turning the monument into a rubbish tip for the past seven years,” he said, adding that he would not stop removing the tributes. 

Neville Gafà was unapologetic. File photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Gafà, who served as an advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister under Joseph Muscat, was recently rehabilitated within the Labour Party after being sidelined when Abela took office.  

In August, he returned to work at the OPM as a customer care advisor. He reports to Parliamentary Secretary for Social Dialogue Andy Ellul.  

On Friday morning, Gafà took to his Facebook page to declare that the monument had been “cleaned”, without mentioning who was responsible.   

Following Caruana Galizia’s murder, the Great Siege Memorial, located opposite the law courts, became a makeshift shrine to the slain journalist. 

Candles at the memorial marking the eighth anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

In the months that followed, the monument was regularly cleared by the government, until a court ruling in 2020 declared that doing so breached activists’ human rights. 

Nevertheless, since then the monument has occasionally been cleared, with Gafà at the forefront of calls to keep it free from tributes. 

In 2024, a week before the seventh anniversary, Gafà placed his own placards on the memorial, insisting that he too had the right to exercise his freedom of speech. 

Noting that Gafà was employed by the government, NGO Repubblika said the tributes were left to a murdered journalist by law-abiding citizens and representatives of other democracies. 

“This is an outrage to democracy and a crime. He must face the consequences. His employer must carry their responsibilities for the actions of their politically appointed staff,” Repubblika president Vicki Ann Cremona said. 

In a post on X, Nationalist Party MEP David Casa said the government had learned "absoutely nothing" since the journalist's murder. 

"Imagine the humiliation: embassies lay tributes to Daphne, and a taxpayer-funded government employee trashes them", he said. 

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM) called for people to "respect each other’s ways of remembering the journalist who was killed so brutally by insidious powers". 

Questions have been sent to the Prime Minister's office.