WATCH: Motion To Remove Daphne Caruana Galizia Memorial Shot Down During Lively Council Meeting
Video filmed live by Corinne Vella, sister to the late Daphne Caruana Galizia
The Valletta local council dismissed a motion filed by a PL councillor which called for the removal of the makeshift memorial to assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia which has been erected at the Great Siege monument outside the law courts.
Councillor Ray Azzopardi had wanted the local council to remove the memorial on the grounds that it breaches the law against the debasement of public monuments. However, Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli ruled the motion had no legal foot to stand on and was shot down without even a vote taken on it.
The council meeting this evening was an extremely heated one, with speakers constantly interrupted.
On one side, the motion was criticised by speakers such as Partit Demokratiku MP Marlene Farrugia, PN MEP David Casa journalist-blogger Manuel Delia, and former Valletta mayor and PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier. A representative from heritage NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa said the memorial doesn’t risk damaging the monument in any way, while Peter Caruana Galizia spoke briefly at the end to defend the memorial to his late wife from a legal standpoint.
On the other side, six Valletta residents spoke up to urge the council to remove the memorial, claiming it is harming the image of their city. At one point, an elderly woman had to be escorted out of the council meeting after she lost her temper while Marlene Farrugia was speaking.
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