WATCH: Police Called In En Masse As Maltese Activists Disrupt Planning Authority Meeting On New Petrol Station
The Planning Authority has called in at least ten policemen to escort a group of environmental activists who stormed a public consultation meeting held to approve the construction of a new petrol station in land outside development zones in Luqa.
However, the activists – from protest group Moviment Graffitti – refused to obey the police’s orders, and said they will only leave once the PA cancels the meeting. After a standoff lasting around half an hour, the PA’s chairperson Vince Cassar decided to suspend the meeting.
During the meeting, the activists suddenly brought out posters with messages such as “You’re destroying our future” and “PA ABZ Mill-ODZ” and surrounded the PA table.
One of the activists got out a megaphone and accused the PA of permitting the destruction of virgin land.
“We don’t need these weak regulations that are permitting more and more development everywhere you look,”she said. “The environment minister himself said the petrol station policy must be revised and the Environment and Resources Authority said this application should be rejected, but they are being shamelessly ignored. What’s the sense of even holding these meetings in the first place? We need true polices and not policies to fatten the pockets of a few developers at the cost of the general public. You are sucking the life out of Malta.”
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