About a dozen protestors this morning entered the cordoned off Santa Luċija playground and tied crosses onto the already cut down trees in the area as a symbol of protest.
According to Infrastructure Malta, the numerous trees are being cut down to make way for the €20 million Santa Luċija Tunnels project along a stretch between Santa Luċija and Addolorata Cemetary Hill.
Entering the site, the activists said that they were met with heckling from workers, at a point one of them telling them that they will be closing them within the enclosure.
Explaining why they decided to set up this demonstration, Sasha Vella, an environmental activist, said that they went there to raise awareness on what could, and probably is going to happen, in Attard “if we do not continue to fight and take a stand against the destruction that the Central Link project is bringing to our environment”.
“This is a clear example of what has been going on in Malta – it is almost as if we are standing in a cemetery this morning.”
Also speaking with this newspaper, fellow teen activists Tim Grech and Ruby Zammit pointed out that they were hanging crosses on all the chopped trees to pass on the message that “if we do not work hard, and if we do not work together, then we are given a preview o what’s going to happen in a few months time in Attard”.
When asked about why the government was dismantling parts of a jogging track in Santa Lucija, Minister for Transport Ian Borg said that an €90,000 investment should not prevent an investment of €20 million.
Video/photos Neil Camilleri
