Tempers flared yesterday morning when Marsaxlokk hawkers attempted to return to their original marketplace spots on the newly-repaved promenade along Xatt is-Sajjieda, only to be confronted by the police.
The area along the shore is being renovated and, while works were ongoing, hawkers had agreed to move to a temporary location, which they have occupied for the past two-and-a-half months.
However, once the Marsaxlokk village feast ended on Sunday and the promenade started to be filled with tables and people, the hawkers took this as a sign that things were back to normal.
They stationed their stalls along the finished area of the promenade until the police were dispatched to the area and ordered them to leave. Sources said this led to an argument at 7.30 a.m.
“The minister told us that when the works were finished we could go back to our place. The works are ready. We let the feast pass... and they wouldn’t let us set up in our place, where I’ve been paying for a licence for the past 30 years,” said Frank Vella, a hawker speaking on behalf of his colleagues.
Mr Vella and fellow hawkers then met the police superintendent at the Żejtun station later in the morning. The meeting was described as heated at times.
“We don’t know where we stand. We hear one thing, we hear another – shop owners take their chairs and tables out without a permit and we, who pay for our permit, are being asked to leave,” Mr Vella said.
It appears there was some form of communication breakdown between the government and the hawkers, as a government spokesman seemed puzzled over this “sudden move”.
“The arrangement was that the hawkers had to move to a site while works were going on,” the spokesman said.
“We have always met and told the hawkers that when the project is finished, the Estate Management division will discuss the conditions on how they will set up after that, for example the size of stalls, the materials used for setting up and so on.
“These discussions are still under way and further meetings with government entities are planned this week. Out of the blue, the hawkers set up shop on the promenade, some taking up to 20 metres per stall.”
The government said the signed arrangement each and every hawker entered into when moving to the temporary site stated: “I accept to carry out my commercial activity from the space indicated which is being given to me on a temporary basis, until further notice from the competent authorities.”
“This ‘notice’ has not yet been issued since talks are still under way and so we cannot understand why this sudden move,” the spokesman added.
Simon Camilleri, a hawker, however, denied having signed any paper of the sort for the daily market. “The only paper we signed was one for the temporary relocation of the Sunday market,” Mr Camilleri said.
Meanwhile, the hawkers are meant to remain in their temporary location as a sign of goodwill as they hold another meeting with the police today.