A planned clean-up of Manoel Island was halted this morning, when environmental activists arrived to find shut gates and a heavy police presence.
Some 150 Gżira residents and members of the group Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent (KEA) turned up outside the gates set up by private consortium Midi at around 10am this morning.
They were greeted by 16 police officers standing between them and the island, as the clean-up morphed into a peaceful but vociferous protest.
“This is land seizure,” KEA spokesman Andre Callus said to loud cheers. “As usual, those with money and power act as if they can get away with anything, and people are sick of it.
“Midi have offered to ‘concede’ access to the public, but we don’t want their charity. We want what is rightfully ours.”
Mr Callus pledged to return to the island in a week’s time “with or without Midi’s permission” if the impasse was not resolved before then, as an activist held cable cutters aloft.
With the gates shut, activists turned to cleaning up any roadside areas not sealed off to the public, gathering heaps of waste into large bags, as a popular supermarket chain got in on the action, dropping by with carloads of water and biscuits which they distributed to protesters.
Midi has been accused by its opponents of “abandoning” the island for 16 years, allowing rubbish to accumulate. The company has responded by claiming activists carried out acts of vandalism at Fort Manoel when they gained access last weekend, claims which have been strongly denied.
Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manche, who has led the legal and public battle to open access to the island’s picturesque foreshore, also spoke at the protest.
The council yesterday presented Midi with a proposal to share security costs in order to open access on weekends, but this was met by a strongly-worded letter from the company’s lawyers, accusing the council of criminal offences and incitement of criminal action.
Mr Borg Manche strongly rejected the accusations, insisting the public’s access to the foreshore was ensured in Midi’s concession agreement with the government, and pledging not to give in the company’s attempts at “intimidation”.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola called on the government to avoid a repeat of the development “disaster” at Tigne Point and ensure long-term public access to the island.
“Government should make amends for the damage which has been caused with the consent of both PN and PL as a result of their misconceived politics of encouraging development at all costs,” he said in a statement handed out to media.
“Manoel Island should be reclaimed from Midi and converted into a recreational park accessible to the public.”