Protestors greeted MPs entering Parliament for the first plenary session after the summer recess dressed as grim repears, symbolising what they feel the government’s controversial planning reforms are set to cause.
As Parliament opened its first session after the summer recess, dozens of citizens carried out a symbolic action as part of the Ġustizzja għal Artna campaign, sounding the alarm on the planning legislative package being pushed by Government that would spell disaster for our country.
“Participants stood outside Parliament dressed as grim reapers to symbolise the so-called planning ‘reform’: planning bills 143 and 144 that would hand absolute power to the Planning Authority and make it almost impossible for the public to challenge its corrupt decisions; and three legal notices that would grant a blanket amnesty for all planning and environmental illegalities across Malta and Gozo, with no limits on size, type, or location,” the protestors said in a statement.
“Other grim reapers represented the forces driving these laws: greed and the developers’ dictatorship,” they said.
“Mourners carried a coffin symbolising the death of our quality of life, environment, decency, democracy, and social justice,” they added.
The protestors said that this so-called reform has one aim: “to crush the common person and transfer all power to developers and politically-controlled authorities.”
“It will open the floodgates to destructive development in ODZs, UCAs, and other areas of social, historical, and cultural importance. No corner of the country will be safe from greed,” they said.
They said that citizens will lose the few tools they have to contest illegal decisions. Appeals will become harder, and even the Courts will lose the authority to strike down illegal permits.
“The consultation process launched after public outrage in July, when Government first tried to sneak these laws through Parliament in the middle of summer, is meaningless. The laws are structurally rotten and cannot be fixed. While the consultation was supposedly underway, Government embarked on a propaganda campaign to promote the laws. This is clear proof that the Government’s intention is to bulldoze these laws through and dismantle all planning safeguards,” they said.
“Selling a developers’ wishlist as a planning reform is not only deceitful and morally wrong. It is also insulting. The public sees through it,” they continued.
The groups said that people are determined to fight for their rights, for quality of life, and for a future worthy of their children.
A national protest demanding the immediate withdrawal of these proposed laws will be held on Saturday 4th October at 10am, starting from the Law Courts in Valletta and marching to Castille.