Disapproving university students yesterday hurled tomatoes at actors who read out the Attorney General’s legal appeal to a judgment that cleared a student editor and an author of distributing obscenities.

The instructions were to throw a tomato at the student actors whenever they disagreed with an argument made in the appeal, which essentially argued that a fictional story, published in the student newspaper Realtà, was obscene.

“Whoever of you feels that the appeal offends their sense of freedom, more than any piece of fiction can ever do, please throw tomatoes,” said Ingram Bondi, from the Front Against Censorship, who helped organise the event.

First-year theatre studies’ student Erin Stewart Tanti directed the event which he called the Theatre of Rotten Tomatoes.

“I am an artist, not in the obnoxious teenage way, but in a more relevant way... This is an event about freedom of choice... It will be the audience, and not we, who will lay down the agenda by showing their disapproval by throwing tomatoes,” he said.

The three actors – Erin Stewart Tanti, Robert Fenech and Marija Mangion – read out the entire court appeal document in a dramatic tone wearing white disposable boiler suits and safety goggles to protect themselves from the tomato missiles.

The trio had barely read out the first few words of the appeal that a group of students attacked them with the tomatoes distributed in three crates.

Clearly enjoying the process of pelting their fellow students, who stood in front of a red target, the tomato throwers ran out of ammunition within the first few minutes of the event that lasted over half an hour.

Some picked up smashed tomatoes from the ground and had another go at throwing them.

Others opted for another way to voice their disapproval at the AG’s text and booed every time they disagreed. Such instances included parts of the appeal where the AG said the article had offended public morals and when the court was asked to find Mr Vella Gera and Mr Camilleri guilty and inflict the necessary punishment.

Once the document was read out, Mr Stewart Tanti thanked all those who had thrown a tomato.

“We don’t need censorship in Malta... I think we can all agree on that,” he said as he stood among splattered red blobs.

In March, the Magistrates’ Court had cleared student editor Mark Camilleri and author Alex Vella Gera who published a story entitled Li Tkisser Sewwi (Fix what you break) on the University-distributed newspaper Realtà. They had been charged with distributing obscene material.

The court had found that the law did not provide a clear definition of what is obscene and that the prosecution did not provide enough evidence to show how the story offended public morals.

The Attorney General appealed against the judgment arguing that the story’s content constituted obscenities and Mr Camilleri and Mr Vella Gera should be found guilty.