Sliema residents have taken to a poster campaign to plead for action by the authorities to stop rampant building development and chaos on the roads and pavements.

Banners and posters have quietly spread right across the seaside town, with the residents placing banners on their balconies saying 'Stop destroying Sliema' and 'Stop destroying our town'. 

The banners began appearing in April but recently increased in numbers. They are part of an initiative organised by the Sliema Residents' Association.

One of its founding members, Anna Maria Baldacchino, said: “We began placing the banners as a visual reminder of the residents' frustrations because clearly just complaining is not enough.”

Sample of what the banner looks like up close. Photo: Sliema Residents Association

Astrid Vella, another founding member of the association, said the banners are a result of the authorities' inaction over excessive noise, rampant overdevelopment, tables and chairs abusively occupying public land, and the garbage issue. 

The association said that whenever residents try to raise their complaints in a civilised and organised manner, "they feel they are being taken for a ride". 

“We are being sent from pillar to post, and we aren’t seeing any action,” Vella said.

Baldacchino recently became so frustrated by a restaurant’s illegal outdoor seating that she took the unorthodox step of applying for permission to take up public land herself.

The Lands Authority refused her initial request for encroachment without giving her a reason.

She decided to contest that decision and won, but months after her application was resubmitted, she has not heard anything from the Lands Authority. “I feel we are completely ignored. I am at a point where I am paying out of my own pocket even to attempt to return public space to the public," said Baldacchino.

Almost exactly a month ago, around a hundred protesters marched, carrying placards saying, 'Public space is public' and 'No access for disabled'. The protestors marched through bar enclosures constructed across the pavement in Sliema while music blared out in the background.

Vella said that before the protest, officials warned the association not to harass the restaurants as that would make victims out of them. 

“We exist in a reality where we feel the business owner is being prioritized more than the resident. We are being treated like trash," Baldacchino said.

Some of the protest banners on the strand. Photo: Sliema Residents Association.

The newly elected local council will be announced on Thursday, and the association hopes it will bring with it new energy and more action.

“We just hope that the new council will be able to take on a more active role, curbing the abuses, objecting to these unsustainable projects (referring to several plans for hotels), and improving the garbage situation,” Vella said. 

The Association said that if any Sliema residents would like to join their initiative and place a banner on their balcony, they should contact the admin of the Facebook Group, Għaqda Residenti Slimiżi.