Farmers have complained of trespassing by birdwatchers on their fields, 'often giving rise to provocation.'

Peter Axisa, CEO of the Ta' Qali Producers Group (TQPG) in a statement referred to the BirdLife video showing two bird watchers being assaulted. One of the victims, Paul Debono, later told a press conference that there were no signs that his friend or himself were on private land.

"Whilst condemning all forms of violence, one must not omit looking at the other side of the coin," Mr Axisa said.

"The way the story has reached us is different to that reported and that the "hunters" were nothing but farmers harvesting a crop of lettuce when they noticed the BirdLife people trespassing over their land and damaging produce. Mr. Debono said there were no signs that his friend and himself were on private land". Who does Mr Debono think sowed the field of broad beans he was threading over in all this, mother-nature?," Mr Axisa asked.

He said that the Ta' Qali Producers Group had been receiving complaints from farmers, on a frequent basis, that 'BirdLife people' as well as others, were continuously "trespassing" on private property. This could often give rise to provocation, as seemed to have happened in this case.

"In TQPG's books, trespassing is subject to prosecution yet little weighting seems to be given to this phenomenon," Mr Axisa said.

"Going into farmers' fields is nothing but trespassing private property unless one does so with the owner's consent and to add insult to injury not only do they enter illegally but cause voluntary damage to crops. I would say that this is categorically unacceptable in a supposedly mature and democratic society," he added.

BIRDLIFE REACTION

BirdLife Malta in a reaction to the farmers' statement, said the assault on two of its volunteers last Sunday was nothing more than an unprovoked attack and a criminal act that could never be justified under any circumstances.

"The volunteers heard several shots coming from the area and walked down a country lane in the direction of the shots heard. There was no gate nor any signs, and the volunteers did not walk into any field as alleged by the Ta’ Qali Producers Group."

BirdLife said that suddenly, a white pickup truck approached them and two men jumped out of the car and immediately attacked the volunteers. Before they launched their 'punching frenzy', they did not inform the BirdLife volunteers that they were trespassing, if that were the case.

"They jumped out of the truck with the intention of beating up the volunteers, who did not challenge them back in any way," the NGO said.

"While the aggressors were yelling, they were pinning the volunteers to the ground, punching them and kicking them. Even though there were no signs indicating the surrounding area was privately owned, the volunteers did not challenge the aggressors in any way."

BirdLife said the farmers’ accusation that BirdLife Malta volunteers were treading on any sort of crop was completely false and also, as could be clearly seen in the footage released yesterday, the aggressors drove up to the two individuals in a truck on the same path that the volunteers were standing on.

Moreover, the footage also clearly revealed the aggressors speaking about hiding their shotguns from the police.

ENDS