Fort Manoel to host massive parties, and campaigners say that's a betrayal

Campaigners who successfully pushed for Manoel Island to become a national park say that vision is being betrayed after two large commercial parties were announced at Fort Manoel in recent weeks.

In a strongly worded statement, the Manoel Island: Post Għalina campaign said the fort should serve as a refuge for residents rather than another commercial entertainment venue.

“The government is once again prostituting public land at the cost of the thousands of residents,” it said on Saturday.

Fort Manoel was returned to public control as part of a deal to rescind a concession handed to MIDI plc to develop Manoel Island. The government has pledged to turn the area into a national park and held a much-publicised public consultation exercise to that end.

Campaigners said Prime Minister Robert Abela had previously said the government's vision matched that put forward by the campaign. But commercial mass events at the fort was incompatible with those commitments, they noted.

"When government permits disruptive commercial mass events on Manoel Island it is yet again prostituting public land at the cost of the thousands of residents that live around it and the ecosystem that finds refuge there," they said.

Private event organisers have in the past week been advertising various large-scale music events to take place in the fort during the summer. Among them are a party led by afro house musician HUGEL and another party headlined by DJ Black Coffee. 

Parties are being advertised as being held at the historic Fort Manoel.

Activists said Marsamxett Harbour already suffers from excessive commercial activity and noise, citing boat parties and entertainment establishments that they claimed regularly exceed legal noise limits without effective enforcement.

The campaign also criticised the authorities for allowing what it described as the "theft of public land" through the development of a padel complex on Manoel Island.

Local club Gżira United has applied to sanction illegally built padel courts on Manoel Island, with a Planning Authority case officer recommending a €900 fine to approve the illegality. A decision was due during the electoral campaign but the hearing was postponed to a later date.

Addressing Prime Minister Robert Abela, Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea and Environment Minister Miriam Dalli, campaigners asked if the government intended to continue allowing commercial interests to dominate the site or whether it would honour its commitment to residents and activists.

"The public knows what they've asked for. Don't try to take us for a ride," they said.