Floriana local council will be forging ahead and closing St Anne Street for tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve street party in spite of police objections and the absence of a public transport service after hours.
The bash, which the local council says is expected to attract more than 10,000 people, is intended to be a national event run on the lines of celebrations in London’s Trafalgar Square and Times Square in New York.
However, with barely 24 hours to go, the organisers face obstacles, mainly due to a dispute over the main road’s closure and the availability of public transport to take people home after the event.
Police sources said when contacted that the council was issued with an objection letter last week because closing a main artery tomorrow between at 9 a.m. and 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day was unacceptable.
“In principle, we have nothing against the street party. The police only objected to having St Anne Street closed for so long. We cannot have a situation of two weights and two measures where we prevent Msida from letting off fireworks in a main artery and then giving Floriana the go-ahead,” the sources said.
For the first time in over a decade, Msida was last year not allowed to close the Sta Venera bypass and Regional Road to let off fireworks, a practice that used to cause havoc for motorists.
“The police proposed that the council hold the party on the Granaries, which would not have caused any problems, but it remained keen on the street party in St Anne Street,” the sources added.
The police objection, however, seems not to have disheartened the Floriana council and mayor Nigel Holland said that, after talks with the police yesterday, the council planned to go ahead and close the road using wardens instead of police officers.
“We have been verbally informed that, as a council, we had the authority to close the road for a one-off national event. We will use wardens instead of police officers, who are overstretched on the night,” Mr Holland said.
“I’ve been dreaming about holding such an event for years. This year, the council and I decided to take the plunge,” he added.
The event is planned to kick off at 6.30 p.m. with a parade. Dancers, comedians and singers are scheduled to perform and there will be a fireworks display just before midnight. The council is being assisted by the parliamentary secretaries for dialogue and for tourism.
Another problem remains. A deal has not yet been struck with the Public Transport Association for route buses to keep running late into the night.
Association president Victor Spiteri said: “With every activity such as this, compensation is given to the drivers for their work. In this case, the council doesn’t want to pay and neither does the Malta Transport Authority nor the Ministry for Culture. At the end of the day, no-one works for free.”