Planning Authority Protestor Who Was Dragged By Police Rubbishes ‘Back To The 80s’ Warnings
Musician Mario Vella, one of the people who was forcibly removed by police officers during yesterday’s Planning Authority protest, has dismissed warnings that the incident proves Malta has “gone back to the 80s”.
Posting a photo of police officers removing Moviment Graffitti activists from a Freedom Day protest in 2009, the outspoken musician warned that nothing has truly changed despite a change in government.
“The police intervention wasn’t pleasant and it would have been much worse if journalists and camera people weren’t present, but let’s not lose ourselves in the details,” he said. “Our true enemies are those people who operate in the Planning Authority and ministries who cosy up with businessmen who finance the elections of both parties. Remove the blinkers from your eyes.”
He said that many activists from Moviment Graffitti and its sister organisation Kamp Emergenza Ambjent come from politically fanatical families and are ashamed of the political attitudes of their own relatives.
“Many of us have seen first hand the disaster that the attitudes of ‘we are in government so we can do as we please’ and of ‘the other side did worse’ have caused,” he said. “Our main enemies are the majority of businessmen and politicians and they will keep on steamrolling over us unless we start showing we are ready to go head to head with them with all the resources at our disposal.”
Yesterday’s incident has been condemned by both Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and the Nationalist Party, while Police Officers Union head Sandro Camilleri has called for an internal investigation to find out what caused it.
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