Tempers flared at a debate on the proposed referendum on spring hunting at University.
The tension rose as representatives of the hunting and anti-hunting lobbies argued over whether an abrogative referendum would impinge on the rights of the hunting minority.
Organised by the Univeristy Student Council, the debate saw the hunter's federation, FKNK, go head-to-head with conservation NGO Birdlife over the validity of an abrogative referendum to abolish spring hunting.
The referendum is being proposed by a coalition made up of: Ramblers Association of Malta, Nature Trust, Moviment Graffiti, International Animal Rescue Malta, Greenhouse Malta, Gaia Foundation, Friends of the Earth Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Coalition for Animal Rights, Birdlife Malta and Alternattiva Demokratika.
The campaign to collect petition signatures was formally launched in August and last night reached the 25,000 mark. For the referendum to be held, the coalition has to collect the signatures of 10 per cent of eligible voters – more than 34,000 people.
Asked about why the coalition had proposed the referendum, Birdlife Malta executive director Steve Micklewight said the hunting lobby had strong armed successive governments into allowing a practice which the majority of Maltese were against.
"Hunters have bullied the parties, using their voting power as a threat. If the political parties can't handle this issue then the people should decide," he said, adding that it was fundamentally undemocratic for parties to make deals with lobby groups.
Parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes and Opposition spokesman Charlo Bonnici both vehemently denied having made deals with the hunting lobby.
Asked whether the government would support a referendum, Mr Galdes skirted the issue. Mr Bonnici, however, said the PN would support direct democracy.
The debate was characterised by a series of loud jeers and insults from hunters in the audience.
Among the phrases used by the vocal members of the audience were "Birdlife is full of bird lies".
FKNK Secretary Lino Farrugia was among the audience members who spoke up. He argued that the spring hunting referendum would lead to the outright abolition of all hunting.
"this referendum will result in several other votes until hunting is completely abolished," he warned, again prompting loud calls against the referendum from the audience.
Mark Mifsud Bonnici President of St Hubert Hunting Association insisted that the application of a derogation to EU directives was a right afforded to all member states. Mr Mifsud Bonnici also raised doubts over the figures reported by conservation lobbyists.
The sentiment was shared by coalition spokesman Rudolph Ragonesi who described the government data collection method as "systematically flawed".
"We have a system were people with biases are collecting vital information. This can't go on," Prof. Ragonesi said.
Picking up on the issue, a Birdlife spokesman referred to instructions from the FKNK to its members, instructing them to beware of reporting all catches as this would result in the closing of the season.
Prof. Ragonesi insisted this was eliciting of a crime and showed the federation's "real intentions".
A graph compiled by the NGO should a spike of text messages catch reports on the last day of the spring season.
The debate was also characterised by a series of personal attacks against Mr Micklewight. Mr Mifsud Bonnici described the Birdlife chief as "a nobody who came to Malta to be a somebody".