Malta joins the Commonwealth to mark Remembrance Day
MLP holds own wreath-laying
The victims of two world wars were remembered yesterday in a wreath-laying ceremony at the War Memorial in Floriana, where Malta marked Remembrance Day.
The event, which is celebrated in every Commonwealth country, attracted a crowd of onlookers, mostly tourists from the UK.
War veterans and their relatives gathered round the memorial, with a couple of the more elderly fainting under the warm November sun.
Wreaths were laid at the foot of the War Memorial by President Guido de Marco, followed by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, former President Censu Tabone, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, ambassadors and a number of constituted bodies and associations.
Under protest, the Labour Party did not attend and held its own wreath-laying ceremony later on.
The reason was that the MLP's spokesman for the army, Joe Debono Grech, who was to stand in for opposition leader Alfred Sant, was assigned by the organisers to lay the opposition wreath after a number of others, and only in his capacity as MP.
Dr Sant, who was at the Labour party general conference and as a result could not attend, said in a statement that he felt the "arrangements did not do justice to the importance that the opposition should have in a national ceremony of the sort".
He said he was told by the National Festivities Committee that protocol would have to be followed, but he maintained that if he were abroad, or even unwell, Mr Debono Grech would have been able to represent the opposition and be among the first to lay its wreath. "Protocol should not be used as an excuse to belittle the opposition," Dr Sant said.
The National Festivities Committee could not be contacted yesterday for their view of the issue.
The band of the Armed Forces of Malta and a contingent from the police corps also participated, together with a contingent of ex-servicemen from the Royal British Legion.
Earlier in the day, a concelebrated Mass was said by the Metropolitan Chapter at St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta in honour of the victims.
Many people donned poppies as part of the Remembrance Day Poppy Appeal Fund - a fund-raising activity, organised by the Malta branch of the Royal British Legion, to assist former Maltese servicemen and members of their families.