Valletta's Merchant Street has been temporarily freed of canopies, tables and chairs to make way for the traditional Lady of Sorrows procession on Friday.

The structures will be similarly removed on Saturday and March 29 for another two prossessions marking Holy Week, Valletta Mayor confirmed with Times of Malta.

Easter celebrations last year. Photo Joseph Galea

Residents and visitors of the capital often flag the chaotic situation of tables and chairs on streets, with the issue escalating last Easter. Volunteers who took part in the Good Friday procession complained they had to wade through tables and chairs while loud music disrupted the Seven Church visitations on Maundy Thursday.

Subsequently, the police called for a review of licensing conditions that allowed catering establishments to encroach on public space to avoid a repeat of last year's disruption of processions.

On Friday, Valletta Mayor Alfred Zammit told Times of Malta that the establishments along Merchants' Street had been ordered to not take out street furniture on these three days.

The Lady of Sorrows procession on Friday will begin at the Ta’ Ġieżu Church at 6pm. On Saturday a Passion procession organised by l-Għaqda Madonna tal-Grazzja Banda San Mikiel and Soċjeta Filarmonika King's Own in collaboration with the Valletta Local Council will tour Valletta streets.

The third and most popular procession - that of Good Friday on March 29 - is  set to start at 6pm from the Ta’ Ġieżu Church. 

The move received a fair share of praise on the Facebook page Residenti Beltin, set up by the newly formed independent party with the same name.

However several urged for the measure to become a permanent one. 

The issue of tables and chairs on Valletta streets is not limited to Easter celebrations.

The street furniture on Merchants Street last year triggered a judicial protest by the University of Malta against the Valletta local council.

The Ombudsman's Office also took to parliament to demand proper rules and procedures for outdoor catering areas.

The office handed MPs its recommendations following an investigation sparked by a complaint about how establishments constantly encroached on public roads and pavements, without any form of permanent markings to ensure they remained within pre-set boundaries.

Earlier this month, the ordeal an ambulance faced to squeeze past tables and chairs on a Valletta street reignited the debate.

Soon after, the Ombudsman renewed its appeal to regularise outside catering areas, urging the authorities to confiscate tables and chairs and impose fines on those who breached their permit, adding that Merchants Street looked like a caravan site.