Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has described the University of Malta's controversial decision to stop students from a wearing a mask depicting Transport Minister Ian Borg as “stupid”.

“It was a stupid decision and I don’t think it came from the top brass but from other quarters. If freedom of expression is not upheld at University I don’t know where else [it would be]," the Prime Minister said. 

Dr Muscat spoke when asked by the Times of Malta whether he endorsed the manner in which the University had handled this incident when he paid a visit to the University's Msida campus during Freshers’ week. 

The controversy erupted when security guards on campus told Moviment Graffitti activists - who were dressed as a tower crane and wearing masks depicting Dr Borg and Malta Developers’ Association president Sandro Chetcuti - that they were not allowed to have “political protests on campus”. 

Though the University had initially justified the decision, saying that Freshers' week was "not the appropriate platform to voice any form of protest", it backtracked one day later. 

On Tuesday morning, University rector Alfred Vella told Times of Malta such an incident would never happen again.

Apart from disavowing the "stupid" decision, the Prime Minister was also keen to emphasise that the government did not interfere in the university's decision-making. 

“We are completely against any form of censorship and I think this was a light way to level criticism,” he added.

Earlier,  while touring Freshers' week stands, the Prime Minister had a brief encounter with the Graffiti activists who were involved in this incident and chatted with the “tower crane” activist who was at the heart of the incident.