A court has upheld a request by a group of Valletta monti hawkers to prohibit a restaurant owner from setting up tables and a canopy in an area occupied by the hawkers' stalls.

The request was originally filed by over 50 market stall owners but the court only upheld the request filed by Roderick Mangion, Maria Sultana, Carmelo Demanuele, Charles Difesa and Michael Sultana as they were the ones who would have been directly affected.

Jerome Caruana and Oswald Caruana, owners of La Sfoglia in Merchants Street, argued that their tent, which is currently located in the square in front of the covered market (Is-Suq) will need to be dismantled due to the market's impending renovation works.

They had instead identified an alternative site, which happened to incorporate the area where a number of monti stalls are set up daily.

Madam Justice Anna Felice noted that only five of the monti stall owners had successfully proven their right to set up their stalls in the designated area, adding that the other stall owners failed to present prima facie evidence to indicate that the tent would disrupt their area.

The court also noted that the parameters in which the hawkers operate are very rigidly defined, meaning that the relocation of the tent would mean they would have nowhere from where to work.

Madam Justice Felice decided to uphold the hawkers' request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction.