AD calls for change to 'archaic' censorship laws

Alternattiva Demokratika will take part in today's anti-censorship protest and urged the government to change its archaic laws in favour of a secular state.

Censorship was not only a breach of individual rights but an anachronistic legacy which could be used arbitrarily to repress artists and minorities who did not conform to the views of dominant institutions, AD said yesterday.

In the past weeks, there had been an increase in the number of attempts to censor artists and minorities and Malta resembled a confessional state rather than a modern European society, AD added.

The protest is being organised by Front Against Censorship, which is made up of 11 student organisations campaigning to amend five laws it believes limit people's freedom of expression and which carry overly-harsh sentences including imprisonment.

It will start at 5 p.m. from City Gate, in Valletta and finish in front of Parliament along Republic Street.