Closing road for Msida feast could be dangerous - Mater Dei superintendent
"They'll close the road over my dead body" - band club president
Mater Dei Hospital's superintendent has warned that permitting the closure of Regional Road so that fireworks can be let off for the Msida feast could have dangerous consequences.
Frank Bartolo said he could not understand how the closure could even be contemplated. "How can you close the one and only major artery leading to hospital?" he said.
When contacted, police said they had received "two requests for closure of roads to let-off fireworks" for the Msida feast in a fortnight's time and these were still being processed.
Closing the roads causes severe inconvenience to motorists every year. However, the recent opening of Mater Dei means that emergency cases could be affected as well as relatives of hospital's 850-odd patients.
However, Għaqda Melita Banda San Ġużepp president Vince Azzopardi is adamant that the closure is necessary for the feast to be a success. He also insisted that people could take alternative routes.
Mr Azzopardi said the road had been closed for as long as he had been president - 11 years - and would continue being closed for the feast as long as he is alive.
Clearly angry, he said: "They'll close (the road) over my dead body. You are denying us our right to the feast. Don't you dare come to Msida, I'm serious... If you don't like it, don't pass through Msida. We never needed you and we are never going to."
When reminded that people visiting hospital might be stuck in traffic because of the road closure, Mr Azzopardi said ambulances were still able to get through.
When asked about hospital visitors, he said the police would designate times when the road would be open. "If someone doesn't watch the news or read the newspapers, that it's up to him. We don't get into it."
The closure of the road last year prompted one reader to write in a letter to The Times: "This is causing havoc with long stretches of traffic, time after time."
Another described the closure as "totally stupid", saying it showed lack of planning by the authorities, adding that in Malta "common sense and logic is only optional in certain circumstances".