WATCH: Valletta Cleaners Questioned By German Journalist As Daphne Memorial Is Cleared Late At Night
A video posted on Twitter early this morning shows city workers clearing the makeshift memorial for Daphne Caruana Galizia, with one of the men claiming not to know which minister is in authority to order the clearance.
One of the workers notices the camera and proceeds to mask their face, while the other is singled out by the cameraman, a German journalist, who questions them as to why the memorial is being cleared.
Camera: Jonathan Schörnig and Marc Tilley
Interesting to note is the fact that, as pointed in a comment on the thread following the video, the items cleared are placed directly into the vehicle’s cabin and not in the back where one would assume it to end up.
When pressured by German journalist Thomas Datt following the clearance, the worker says they’re “doing [their] job”, when asked for a further explanation he responds claiming not to know who the minister is responsible for the orders.
The responsibility for the clearing of the memorial outside of the law courts in Valletta fall into Justice Minister Owen Bonnici’s authority, and the orders to clear the memorial have been made every day – barring the second anniversary of Daphne’s passing, after which the memorial was left untouched.
The following day, however, the items had been cleared. Daphne’s family continue to place photographs and flowers beneath the statue, with others placing excerpts from her blogs and writing.