Kamra Tal-Periti Urges Removal Of Parliament Barriers At Freedom Square
On occasion of World Architecture Day, the Kamra tal-Periti has urged the authorities to return Freedom Square in Valletta to the public.
“If there is one intervention in Malta’s public space that symbolically embodies the disregard, verging on contempt, with which architecture and the work of architects is generally held, it is the blight around Freedom Square upon which the parliament building designed by Renzo Piano stands,” the Kamra tal-Periti said.
“The fact that such ignominy is carried out at the behest of the highest democratic institution in the country, just underscores the dire state of architecture and the long road towards achieving the cultural sensibilities and basic educational standards necessary to truly begin to understand and address the issues surrounding quality of public space and general wellbeing.”
@lovinmaltaofficialNearly half a decade on since makeshift barriers were placed around Parliament in Valletta’s entrance, they remain there, creating a clear barrier between politicians and people. @timdiacono questions whether the government is afraid of a repeat of the 2019 protests that rocked the capital city 🚧
Parliament has been surrounded by barriers since the 2019 protests, when angry crowds pelted government MPs with eggs and blocked them from leaving Parliament in the wake of the arrest of Yorgen Fenech.
Although Speaker Anġlu Farrugia said in February that the barriers will be replaced with new security measures, they are still present till this day.
The Kamra tal-Periti warned that the barriers completely reverse Piano’s intentions – which was to create an urban space designed to promote transparency of the democratic processes.
“The permanently installed barriers that are erected around this building completely reverse the design intent of the architect, and instead places a physical separation between the electors and the elected, a gap which the design sought to eradicate,” they said.
“The irony of this situation is further compounded by the fact that the institution that is entrusted by the Constitution to enact the laws of the land, is brazenly breaching several provisions of the same laws its members have passed inside that very building.”
“We call upon all the responsible public institutions, starting of course from the Speaker of the House, but also the Planning Authority, Lands Authority, and Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, among many others, to uphold their obligations in the law and return Freedom Square to the public to whom they ultimately should hold their allegiance.”
Should the barriers be removed?