Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Tuesday implored the Opposition not to fan the flames of racial tensions. 

Speaking hours after 80 migrants were charged over a riot in an open centre, Dr Muscat said the incident was deplorable, regardless of the skin colour of those who broke the law. 

Calling for cool heads, Dr Muscat pointed out that the riots had taken place just metres away from the spot where migrant Lassane Cisse Souleymane was gunned down in a racial attack.

When Mr Souleymane was murdered, everyone spoke out in favour of justice for him. 

“Yesterday, it seems everyone wanted to kill blacks”, Dr Muscat said, explaining that he was using language that everyone could understand. 

Racial tensions ran high following the riot, with hundreds of comments on Facebook inciting violence against migrants.

He insisted that care should be taken not to fuel populist movements like the ones that had gained momentum across Europe. 

He slammed as “amateurish” a PN statement demanding answers about the riot, pointing out that the PN even spoke of the incidents as having taken place in a detention centre, when it was actually an open centre.  

Switching to English, Dr Muscat said he wanted to assure all asylum seekers that Malta was a welcoming country.

"We would like to make it very clear to all those who are here as asylum seekers and those contributing to our economy that the majority of the Maltese are welcoming people". 

"We also need to make it clear that the laws are there for everyone and you have to follow the rules like each and every one of us," he said.

Acknowledging that some Maltese “may be too angry at times”, Dr Muscat said the government’s role was to ensure the rules were there for everyone. 

Everyone had to obey the law, regardless of their skin colour, he said. 

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn in by taunts from the Opposition about his 2013 policy in favour of pushing back migrants to Libya. 

“I made a mistake and admitted it, do not make the same one”, Dr Muscat told the Opposition benches. 

Dr Muscat said he would not play the Opposition’s game of trying to pit Maltese against foreigners. 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat stressing a point.

He said a speech given by Opposition leader Adrian Delia on Monday had almost “xenophobic nuances”. 

“We will lose everything if we fan the flames [of these tensions]” Dr Muscat said.

Turning to the 2020 Budget, the Prime Minister said Malta was a far better place than it was seven years ago when Labour first took over power from the PN. 

Responding to criticism by Dr Delia that people were no better off than they were seven years ago, Dr Muscat argued that the electorate felt otherwise. 

 “We are moving in the right direction. Everyone has understood this, apart from the Opposition”, Dr Muscat said. 

Dr Muscat said he would not be scared of people’s judgement an 11th time after having won ten electoral victories. The Prime Minister has pledged to step down for the next general election, but has confirmed he will be around for the next budget. 

Dr Muscat acknowledged that Malta’s economic growth has brought about new problems, which, however, the electorate trusted the government to solve. 

He said the 2020 budget would help those most in need and reward hard-working families. 

Dr Muscat said he was not claiming the sun only rose over Malta seven years ago. Every government had given its share, but it is also true that under the PN, people were giving up. They had stopped investing and were faced with little job choices. 

The Prime Minister said he agreed with Dr Delia’s ‘accusation’ that this was a recycled budget. 

“We have recycled the third budget without any taxes…We have recycled the surplus for a fifth time in a row”, Dr Muscat said. 

There was no need to change a winning formula, as people were feeling the benefits of successive budgets in their pockets. 

The Prime Minister acknowledged that a “deficit” still existed on the infrastructure front. 

He said the government had undertaken a seven-year, €700 million project to resurface all of Malta’s roads. Indeed, the government had spent more on roads in a single year than a PN government had spent over five years. 

Dr Muscat also spoke about various positive aspects of the budget, denying that no licences had been granted to blockchain companies as claimed by Dr Delia. 

He also pointed to strong investment in education, health and the social sector, particularly through a raising of pensions and benefits for people with disabilities.