Members of the Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin who this morning met at Msida to protest against Muslims praying in the open air distributed pork sandwiches to protesters at the start of the protest.

They claimed that St Paul’s Bay primary school children who took pork sandwiches to school with them were being bullied and intimidated that this issue had also been raised by the parish priest.

When contacted, St Paul’s Bay parish priest Fr Michael Attard confirmed that he had raised the issue during a sermon last week but insisted the 'patriots' had blown the matter out of proportion.

“I heard from some social workers that the incident had happened and mentioned it in passing,” he said. “I don’t know when it happened or whether it was one student or 10. They’re making a big deal out of nothing,” he said.

The claim was immediately denied by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo on his Facebook page and in a statement.

The minister said "there is no ban or restriction on the consumption of meat at St Paul’s Bay Primary School due to religious beliefs.

"Any statements to the contrary are absolute nonsense.

"The St Paul's Bay Primary School is a shining example of the diverse cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds of its pupils and how an inclusive community can be built around that."

Some 300 people took part in the protest.

The protest was organised after Muslims met for Friday prayers at the site for the third consecutive Friday last Friday.

A Foundation which represents them said they were meeting there because they had been evicted from their meeting place, without proper reason.

Alex Pisani, who heads the Facebook page Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin, said that since Roman Catholicism was the religion of Malta, other religions should not be allowed to hold such public demonstrations.

“There is more than enough space at the Mosque and in its grounds, where Muslims can pray,” he said.

Mr Pisani added that the Muslims also wanted more mosques “and we cannot have this”.

George Tabone, of Gram Jewellers, who was invited to address the group, said that although Muslims had every right to pray in the open air, on a level of decency they should not if they saw they were irritating people.

One of the protesters was detained by the police for shoving MaltaToday journalists who were asking some other people questions.

Organisers also stopped the media from speaking and filming to some of the participants saying the people being interviewed were not their members and they disassociated themselves from what they were saying.