We asked people in the Three Cities, Labour’s heartland, about the police raid on Joseph Muscat’s house… and many backed the police while others expressed outrage.

In 2017, Joseph Muscat’s Labour party won a staggering 71% of votes in Cospicua, Senglea, Vittoriosa, Kalkara, Żabbar, Xgħajra and part of Fgura. The party won in this district by a higher margin than in any other district.

Joseph Muscat won 14,674 number one votes from that district – 84% of all the district’s Labour votes and nearly 2,000 votes more than he got on another district he contested, the fifth.

However, when on Friday morning we asked people walking about in the Three Cities – Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua – about the police search of Muscat’s home two days earlier, only a few were ready to defend him tooth and nail.

The rest felt the police were right to have carried out the search if they saw it was necessary and they were right to treat him like any other citizen.

Even if some praised Muscat for bringing prosperity to the country, the general sentiment was desire for justice to prevail.

Muscat denies any wrongdoing and  said he was only half surprised the search had taken place

On the other hand, when asked whether they would vote for Muscat again if he were to contest the election, only a few said they would not, while some others said they would still need to think about it.

The rest said they would vote for him wholeheartedly, even though some of them acknowledged he might have done something wrong.

About a third of the people we stopped to speak to in the street were reluctant to give comments when the search on Muscat’s home was mentioned, saying they did not care, did not follow politics or had not heard the story.

Muscat’s Burmarrad home was on Wednesday searched by police as part of a corruption probe into the Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) hospitals deal.

Financial crime investigators entered his house at around 7am and spent at least three hours on the premises, seizing the former prime minister’s mobile phone, along with those of his wife Michelle and their two daughters.

Muscat denies any wrongdoing and said he was only “half surprised” that the search had taken place. The “needless theatrics”, he said, were possibly designed to “humiliate” him.

But several of the people we questioned on the street on the streets of the Labour heartland said that if police felt it was necessary to search Muscat’s house, they were right to do so. Here are a few of their comments:

Some of the people interviewed were in favour of the search 

“Well, look. The way I see it, they [the police] must have had a reason for going. There must have been something. To be honest, because of the pandemic and all, I’m not sure I want to vote this time. I’m wary of voting Labour.”

“You won’t find a more corrupt person in the world.”

“If they [the police] wanted to find out, they should have done it before, not now.”

“It was all done as it should have been. I agree with them [the police] entirely. But they weren’t right to take the children’s phones. They shouldn’t have done it. I supported Joseph Muscat a lot.”

“The truth will ultimately prevail. Those who try to evade justice will one day get caught. If he is guilty of something, I hope justice is done. He’s just like us. He has two hands, two feet and a head, just like us, and if investigators felt it was necessary to raid his house, then so be it. I just think that it’s not right that he himself knew about the raid. He said it himself. He was ‘half-surprised’. It’s not right, he shouldn’t have known. I cannot say he did not do good things for the country, because he did. He’s smart, wise and talented, but I cannot support him, no.”

Others were infuriated by the police raid, saying it was an ‘invasion of muscat’s privacy’

“Cruelty! Cruelty! Cruelty!”

“From what I could gather from the information that was published, it seems to me like the move was a political ploy to harm him.”

“It was a mess. There are people who are out to get him.  I understand that they might need to search his house but why should they take his children’s phones?”

“Joseph Muscat is the sincerest person in the country. We never hear about all those people who stole money and did bad things. We only hear about Joseph Muscat, who has brought so much prosperity, for us the elderly as well. The police and the court are always against the Labour Party.”

“It was vicious how the Nationalists did this. This happened because the Nationalists are after him. If there really is corruption, then I do get why the police would go, but if there’s nothing, then why go? And it wasn’t right that they took the children’s phones.”

“It wasn’t right for the police to search his house. They invaded his privacy. I get that they are treating him like a normal person, but they still invaded his privacy and it was shared all over social media.”

“The police weren’t right to go to his house. They should have told him they were coming. They should tell you they’re coming. Otherwise if you have something they’ll find it.”

“I think they are unfairly after him. I don’t think the police should have gone to his house. He is a noble man, he did too many good things for our country and he doesn’t deserve this. It is all planned to harm him.”