On Saturday, January 22 at 6.30 a.m. I received a call from the Qormi police station asking me to move my car, which, I would like to point out, was correctly parked. When I told the officer that I was still in bed and that I would move it later, she threatened to have it towed. So I removed my car and went back to bed.

An hour later the police called again and asked me to move our other car which was also correctly parked on a side street where there weren’t any no-parking signs. The reason I had to move our cars was George Hyzler’s funeral which was to be held at 10.30 a.m.

This had already happened when the President’s father passed away. Does this mean it is going to happen every time someone important dies?

I don’t mean any lack of respect for the deceased but I would like to see more respect shown to the living! Shouldn’t the no-parking signs be put up at least 24 hours in advance? If not, as in this case, shouldn’t the police have waited for a more decent hour to disturb people in their homes? What need was there to have me remove the car four hours before the funeral? Am I not a citizen in a democratic country? So why should I be so disturbed so that the dignitaries in their chauffeur-driven cars, paid by me and other taxpayers, would be able to find ample parking space? Do we have to reserve parking spaces for them too now? Do the police have the right to ask you to move a correctly parked car even if there aren’t any signs? Shouldn’t such changes be advertised on the Government Gazette?

I hope that such arrogant behaviour from the police doesn’t become common practice.