A number of tenants at Ta’ Qali Crafts Village were left fuming after government officials and police, acting on an order to evict them, swooped down early yesterday and sealed the entrances to their workshops.

The tenants complained the eviction notice, served on about 15 of them, was only published on Wednesday, making it virtually impossible for them to remove heavy machinery from their workshops within the 24-hour deadline.

The 62 tenants occupying the crafts village had been given until the end of last month to decide whether to take up a government offer to renew their lease for 65 years in return for developing a new site within the village at their own expense.

A spokesman for the Economy Ministry yesterday said 50 tenants had accepted this offer, while one had deposited the contract in court as a sign of protest.

Read more on Times of Malta.

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