Massive turnout for Budget Day protest sends clear message to government on planning bills

A PR nightmare unfolded for the government throughout this evening as its showpiece Budget Day was overshadowed by a massive crowd on Parliament’s doorstep.

Stretching from Parliament all the way through Republic Street, a massive crowd of protesters descended on the House of Representatives as MPs gathered for the finance minister’s annual Budget speech.

 As Moviment Graffitti’s iconic drums took over Valletta, protesters chanted tiżfnu għad-daqqa tal-iżviluppaturi (“you dance to the developers’ tune”) and booed their hearts out whenever anyone mentioned the government’s planning bills or its representatives.

During a speech at the end of the march, Moviment Graffitti activist Andre Callus posed the question that must have been on everyone’s minds in Parliament’s chambers, asking prime minister Robert Abela to decide whether he’s going to be loyal to Malta’s citizens or whether he is going to insist on appeasing developers who stand to benefit from the proposed planning bills.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, these laws are going to destroy you…nobody here wants to accept living under the oppression of these barons,” Callus said, borrowing a term often used by former Labour Party leader and prime minister Alfred Sant in reference to major developers.

“People will resist and they will fight for their land. We were always there to fight, we are here now, and we will be here to continue this fight in the future,” Callus said to resounding applause and chants of irtirawhom issa (“revoke them now”).

Tonight’s major protest marks the second demonstration of its kind this month.

A coalition of dozens of organisations have spearheaded the campaign against the planning bills, which began in July after the government attempted to quietly sneak in two bills which would open the floodgates to even more rampant over-development.

The response from civil society and the general public alike was almost immediate, forcing the government to amend its strategy and engage in a box ticking exercise of public consultation.

Five other speakers delivered speeches during the end of the march: vice mayor of Mellieħa Matthew Borg Cuschieri, Din L-Art Ħelwa president Patrick Calleja, president of the Ramblers’ Association Ingram Bondin, BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana, and Josmar Azzopardi, a Gozitan activist who spoke on behalf of several NGOs based in the sister island.

Describing the planning bills as “a funeral” for Malta’s rural and urban environment, Borg Cuschieri argued that although the government promised no additional taxes in this year’s Budget, the cost that Maltese people will pay because of these bills “will be the biggest ever tax” that anyone’s ever imposed on the country.

Din L-Art Ħelwa’s president pointedly remarked how nobody enjoys showing up to protests, and that nobody was in front of Parliament tonight for a spot of enjoyable camping, either.

“We are here because Malta is not up for sale, justice is not up for sale,” Calleja added.