Adds PN statement at 4.44pm.

Civil society activists will meet outside of parliament on Monday to call for the resignation of Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar and Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia.

Repubblika, Occupy Justice and blogger Manuel Delia are organising the demonstration, which will kick off at 6pm, after Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of slain journalist Daphne, urged Farrugia to give up his role.

In a strongly worded letter sent on Sunday, Caruana Galizia took the Speaker to task over a watered-down reprimand he sent to Cutajar over an ethics breach for a property deal involving 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech.

On Wednesday Farrugia’s lawyer told the journalist/activist he did not seem to understand the parliamentary procedure or the laws of Malta.

Replying on Thursday, Caruana Galizia insisted that the Speaker has “abysmally and deliberately failed in his duties to protect the House from corruption, by deliberately failing to reprimand Cutajar as demanded by the Committee for Standards in Public Life following a democratic vote.

Later, former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi hit out at Farrugia over the stern letter he had sent to Caruana Galizia.

On Friday the activists said it was shameful that the institution tasked with representing honest citizens was defending corrupt politicians. 

It was shameful, they added, that the Speaker was defending an MP found guilty by the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life while engaging a lawyer to intimidate and silence citizens.

In a statement on Friday, the Nationalist Party said  Farrugia's latter was totally unacceptable.

As long of Farrugia continues to be controlled by the Labour Party, the PN said, Malta would not be able to get on the road to reputational recovery.