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Some People Just Thought Of A New Way Of Screwing Up Malta’s Beaches

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News of the confiscation of truckloads of deckchairs and umbrellas from Malta’s beaches took over many people’s newsfeed last weekend, with countless online arguments. 24 hours later, it seems some individuals have already managed to find something even more controversial than all of that, with an army of gazebo tents showing up in the place of the deckchairs and umbrellas.

To make matters even worse, some of the bathers who were on the scene yesterday said at least five of the tents were erected just a few hours after the Armier and Little Armier Bay deckchair-crackdown.

Other bathers told Times of Malta that some of the tent owners even camped overnight. “The selfishness of people has no limits,” said one person. “They’re obviously encouraged by the fact that there’s no enforcement in this country.”  The person who posted the photos to Facebook this morning said she had called the Malta Tourism Authority, but was simply redirected to the Lands Authority. “After Lands they will pass you to PA, then maybe the LC…and it’s October already!” one user replied. 

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The Malta Tourism Authority and the Lands Authority carried out the operation of confiscating the deckchairs and umbrellas at Armier on the same day as part of a joint operation. On Sunday, another raid saw 25 sunbeds being confiscated from Comino’s Blue Lagoon, with MTA’s Chairman Gavin Gulia clarifying that this enforcing is actually done on a regular basis.

On Saturday, local activists warned deckchair operators to keep their hands off public beaches, with NGO Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent saying they’ll gladly organise and mobilise to reclaim public beaches if they don’t see the necessary action being taken. 

Seeing as Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent issued a press release promising “citizens’ direct action if right to enjoy beaches is not restored”, some people wondered whether the appearance of the tents at Armier had anything to do with a group and a potential protest happening on the beach. When Lovin Malta reached out to KEA, however, they clarified that they had nothing to do with what was unfolding. 

The tents are not there today, but many bathers are afraid this will become a routine weekend thing. And if that happens, then Malta really did manage to find something even more controversial than illegally-placed sunbeds and deckchairs. 

This one Facebook user went and put so many people’s thoughts in the most poetic way possible… also bringing in beloved TV series Game of Thrones into his perfect analogy.

What do you make of all this? Sound off in the comments below.

READ NEXT: Online Controversy As Foreigners Charged More Than Locals On Maltese Beaches

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).

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