Over 70 organisations join call for planning reforms national protest
Moviment Graffitti says support reflects 'collective sense of urgency and concern'
Over 70 organisations have endorsed the Ġustizzja għal Artna national protest being organised by Moviment Graffitti on Saturday against the proposed planning reforms.
In a statement on Friday, Moviment Graffitti said “this strong and widespread support” reflected the collective sense of urgency and concern.
The organisations span various sectors of society, including residents’ associations, student organisations — among them medical, architecture, and law students — as well as groups advocating for social justice, and the protection of historical and environmental heritage.
The call for the immediate withdrawal of Bills 143 and 144, and the three legal notices, has also been endorsed by more than 160 University lecturers and academics, who are warning that planning reform will have “extremely dangerous implications for the country’s future”.
“This widespread support should serve as a clear warning to the Government that the Maltese and Gozitan people will not accept that their future, and that of their children on these islands, be destroyed for the benefit of a handful of developers with powerful interests,” a spokesperson for Moviment Graffitti said.
The NGO pointed out that residents associations that have rallied behind the call of Ġustizzja għal Artna hail from localities that are “already suffering the consequences of unplanned and uncontrolled development”.
Front Żgħażagħ għall-Ambjent, a youth organisation recently formed in response to Bills 143 and 144 and the three legal notices, has been at the forefront in strongly condemning these new laws and is urging young people to make their voices heard at the national protest.
The protest will start outside the law courts in Valletta at 10am on Saturday and move toward Castille.
The organisations which are endorsing the protest are: