Festival to stop at 2 a.m.

Saturday's international music event Creamfields will have to switch off at 2 a.m. after a judge decided to postpone a court case over its curfew to September.

The organisers had asked the courts to hear the case with urgency since the party will be held this weekend. They wanted the open-air festival to be given a 4 a.m. permit, claiming the police decision to grant it permission to go on till just 2 a.m. was inconsistent, unjust and caused major financial problems.

Presiding over the case, Mr Justice Joseph Micallef rejected the request for it to be heard urgently.

Roger Degiorgio, the owner of Gianpula, told the police he was prepared to reach any compromise on the sound volume as long as the party could run until 4 a.m.

"People are not complaining about the time. They are complaining about the sound levels, so I'm saying we'll keep the volume at a level they find acceptable, and that way we won't have to chuck everyone out at 2 a.m.," he said.

Among those complaining about the noise is the Dominican Convent in Rabat, which urged churchgoers last weekend to sign a petition against establishments in the area which were causing an "inconvenience".

Fr Raymond Gatt for the convent said the priests had nothing against discos but the "noise pollution" was ruining people's sleep.

The petition originated from people not involved in the Church but the convent decided to take a stand in favour since several people were complaining. It does not single out Gianpula but refers to the other noisy establishments in the area, including those at Ta' Qali and Attard, he said.

He welcomed the fact that Gianpula was given a 2 a.m. deadline. However, he said the church's argument was about noise levels not time limits.

"Fine, it's limited to 2 a.m., but will it still be an inconvenience? Even if it had to stay on till 4 a.m., what is important is it does not stop us from sleeping," he said.

But Dr Degiorgio said he had recently invested a lot of money in specialised speakers to ensure the sound was less of an inconvenience than it used to be.

"The club is 1,240 metres away from the nearest residence. Every Friday and Saturday I have a sound engineer going around the nearby villages to check if it is an inconvenience. The effect of the noise is minimal. There isn't the inconvenience there was in recent years," Dr Degiorgio said.

He claimed his club was being blamed for the sound of other party venues and illegal parties that took place in the vicinity.

He said the organisers of the party were going to suffer major financial consequences if the party was stopped at 4 a.m. but assured partygoers that the indoor Gianpula club would open between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., as allowed by the law.

Dr Degiorgio complained that even though he had applied for the permit in April and has organised outdoor events till 4 a.m. since 2005, the police only told him 12 days ago that his permit had been refused.