Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja has urged the authorities to listen to protesters who are campaigning for trees to be spared the controversial Central Link Project.

In a short Facebook post, the international singing heavyweight said: “The authorities would do well to listen to the voice of the people on this one. Development cannot come at the expense of more environmental destruction.”

He added the hashtags #apolitical and #noaxetogrind.

More than a thousand protesters showed up yesterday morning to defend the trees, hundreds of which are expected to be uprooted (and in some cases transplanted) to make way for a bypass intended to alleviate traffic between Rabat and Attard.