A man who took over two spacious store rooms next to the old Labour Party headquarters in Senglea was yesterday asked to take his animals and leave so that the place can be returned to the public.

But Raymond Vassallo insisted he had done the public a service because the place had been left abandoned for years and had become a den for drug abusers.

"For seven years this place was a mess. There were syringes and mice everywhere; people used to come here and inject themselves all the time. Now, just because I cleaned it up and installed a door, they want to send me out," he said.

"It's all politics. This is just because I'm a Nationalist," he added, complaining that the Labour-run Senglea local council never planned to do anything with the place until he showed up.

The large rooms, next to the Maċina - another abandoned building that used to be the PL's headquarters - were equipped with a generator, a decoy CCTV camera and several cages housing about 10 rabbits. There were also two small dogs, lots of fishing equipment and everything else one would expect to find in a garage.

After an eviction notice was placed on the façade of the rooms hewn in the rock, Land Department officials yesterday morning forced open the door to inspect the place. They were supported by officials from the Animal Welfare Department because they had been informed that the place was also used to house horses and, possibly, even fighting dogs.

But besides being particularly damp and smelly, the animals themselves did not appear to be in bad shape.

When Mr Vassallo showed up infuriated, he claimed he had a verbal agreement with the Land Department to take care of the land, a claim denied by a department spokesman.

After a loud argument with police officers on the scene, he conceded and said he would kill the rabbits and leave everything as it was. "But if I find someone else here, I warn you, I will do another 10 years in prison like I have already done," he said.

He said that in the area there were about 150 similar rooms that had been taken over in the same way but only he had been evicted. This claim was also denied by the department officials who said all the shelters occupiers were served with eviction notices and would be taken care of in due time.

Although the dogs had already been taken into an animal welfare van, they were later given back to Mr Vassallo, who also took with him the live rabbits cooped up together in white sacks.

A new padlock was used and a gate which he had installed at the site was locked up, the Land Department keeping the keys. A spokesman for the department said they would be talking to Mr Vassallo to coordinate with him when he would clear the rest of his stuff.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com