Watch: Activists Break Into Fort Chambray To Protest Hotel Plans
Activists broke into the historic Fort Chambray in Gozo today to protest against plans to develop it into a hotel.
The protest was carried out by NGOs, Moviment Graffitti, Għawdix, Din l-Art Ħelwa, and Wirt Għawdex.
“A public fort was handed to the private sector with the complicity of both the government and the opposition,” Graffitti said.
“For decades, the public has been denied access to the fort and it was left to fall into ruin.”
“Rather than fixing this injustice, the government and opposition recently granted the fort to other developers who now want to destroy the historic barracks to build several books of apartments and a hotel. They have no right to destroy our heritage for the benefit of a few people.”
Hotelier Michael Caruana had been granted a concession to develop the fort into hotel way back in 2005 but the project never materialised, with successive governments failing to carry out maintenance works.
Recently, Parliament unanimously agreed to amend the concession to allow Caruana to sell it to a group of developers on condition that they will be responsible for maintenance works.
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