Moviment Graffitti and Friends of the Earth Malta crashed a conference featuring Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Employment Jonathan Attard and Planning Authority Executive Chairman Johann Buttigieg.
The conference, titled Iċ-Ċittadin, l-Ambjent u l-Iżvilupp (The Citizen, the Environment and Development), was organised at the newly inaugurated Hard Rock Hotel. Protesters crashed the event while Minister Jonathan Attard was speaking, taking to the stage wearing paper pig masks. The activists said they had been invited and registered for the event and insisted that they had a right to remain because the issue was one of public interest. They were eventually escorted out by private security guards.
Interviewed by the press during the protest, Johann Buttigieg said that if protesters had a problem with his appointment, they should protest against the government because it is the government that appointed him. He denied allegations of corruption involving Yorgen Fenech, saying that the chats published between him and Fenech took place around three weeks before he resigned from the Planning Authority.
Johann Buttigieg was also on a gift list drawn up by Yorgen Fenech. Published chats have also shown Buttigieg discussing potential business dealings with Fenech while serving as Executive Chairman of the Planning Authority.
The government is resisting widespread calls for Johann Buttigieg to resign, with the Prime Minister brushing off concerns that Buttigieg had a conflict of interest when he sought business deals with Yorgen Fenech while serving as PA Chairman. The Nationalist Party, environmental organisations, residents’ groups and youth organisations have all called for his removal. Earlier this week, eleven organisations wrote directly to the Prime Minister demanding Buttigieg’s removal and an independent investigation into his conduct.
Full video of the protest by Moviment Graffitti posted below.
Newsroom
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