Updated at 7.25pm

Hundreds of people gathered in front of Parliament on Saturday calling on politicians to protect trees and the overall environment.

A banner reading 'bypasses are still not a solution' and others calling for politicians to 'save our soil' led the way as activists made their way down Republic Street.

The activists carried placards reading 'we need trees' not cranes' and demanded less cars as they continued their calls for a greener environment.

No less than 13 NGOs came together for the demonstration. In a joint statement, the NGOs said public money needed to be invested in reducing pollution, increasing nature and greenery in urban areas and sustaining quality of life.

Addressing the crowd, Ghislaine Calleja from Din l-Art Ħelwa said the environment was in danger in the name of “progress”. Malta’s plan was to just build and widen roads from north to south, to the detriment of the environment.

“It is our fundamental right to enjoy clean air,” she said, adding that safeguards that protected the environment were done away with.

Turning to road works and infrastructure, Steve Zammit Lupi from the Bicycle Advocacy Group, noted that authorities tried to accommodate cars and drivers.

“Logic would say there would be efforts to do away with cars slowly, but instead we widen roads for more and more cars,” he said.

“We need politicians with a backbone, who admit that the transport plan in Malta has failed,” he said.

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, Kristy Debonon and Simon Busuttil, MEP Roberta Metsola, Democratic Party MPs Marlene Farrugia and Godfrey Farrugia and PN MEP candidate Michael Briguglio were spotted among the crowd.

Civil society action on environmental issues has seen a rise in the past couple of months, with multiple petitions and activists asking the authorities to cut down on development.

In a post on Facebook, Environment Minister Jose Herrera said he had communicated with the organisers informing them he was willing to meet them before the activity.

They invited him to take part in the activity but he said he believed it was better if he listened to and took on their arguments.

He said they requested the meeting to be held later as they were busy with the organisation of the activity.

Last week, the government axed plans to uproot some 200 mature trees along the scenic ‘Rabat Road’ following a public outcry.

Some 480 trees have been uprooted so far this year and conservationists have called for an investigation into the removal of trees from various localities in recent weeks.

They include an old Holm oak tree just outside Valletta’s Upper Barrakka, an iconic carob tree in Villa Forte Garden, Lija, and some 14 mulberry trees in Victoria.