Updated 8.10pm, adds Bernard Grech's comments

Both the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader want Mosta councillors to reconsider their decision regarding the transplant of mature trees in the town's square.

In comments to journalists outside parliament on Tuesday evening, Robert Abela criticised Mosta councillors for having failed to adequately communicate with residents about plans to transplant mature trees away from the town’s square.

He urged councillors to listen to residents and to be open to reconsidering the transplanting plan.

“There’s nothing wrong with councillors hearing people out and reconsidering. And if they want it to go ahead [with the decision], they can better explain themselves,” Abela said.

Abela was speaking at the end of a day characterised by growing outrage about the Mosta local council’s decision to have 12 Ficus trees uprooted and transplanted as part of embellishment works close to the Mosta Rotunda.

Also speaking in the evening, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said he instructed the party's councillors in Mosta to move a motion calling for an urgent meeting to rediscuss the issue.

"Without doubt, we remain in favour of the environment," he said.

Grech said the importance of trees is essential to health and the ecosystem and he expected the mayor to accept the request for a discussion so that the best decision would be taken.

"The destruction of trees is not acceptable," Grech said.

The Nationalist Party said soon after Grech's statement that the PN councillors had presented the motion.

The council unanimously approved that decision in early October and obtained a permit to transplant the trees on October 31. But the decision only caught the public’s attention on Monday morning, when workers aggressively pruned the mature trees ahead of their planned transplanting.

On Tuesday, demonstrators moved into the area and blocked excavators from moving the trees. In the afternoon, they were roughly moved aside by the police, who handcuffed and carried away activist Andre Callus.

The manhandling prompted further outrage and the small group of activists grew in number as dusk fell on Tuesday evening. Around 10 of those present said they intended to stay the night, to block any potential works to remove the trees.

Council's lack of communication

Mosta mayor Christopher Grech has yet to comment publicly about the saga, with the council’s only statement being a brief social media post uploaded on Monday evening.

Abela sought to highlight that lack of adequate communication in his comments on Tuesday evening.

“The council should have communicated better,” he said.

“Anyone occupying a public role has a duty to communicate with the public constantly.”  

He also emphasised that the decision to transplant the trees was purely a local council decision, not a government one – and that both Labour and PN Mosta councillors had voted in favour of it.

But while junior minister for local government Alison Zerafa Civelli and Labour Mosta MP Alex Muscat both told Times of Malta that the council decision would benefit residents, Abela held back from going that far.

Instead, the prime minister urged councillors to consult further with residents, hear them out and if necessary reverse their decision and leave the Ficus trees where they are.

"They should hear people out, explain themselves and then reevaluate things after taking everything into consideration," he said. “I have full faith in Labour and Nationalist councillors to reach a final, sensible decision."

Police 'could have been more measured'

Abela also acknowledged that police had come down too hard on demonstrators, but urged critics to put themselves in officers’ shoes.

“Perhaps the police could have been more measured in their response, but you also have to consider the circumstances that time,” he said, though he reiterated what his Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said earlier in the day – that the right to peaceful protest is sacrosanct.

Abela also spoke with respect of Moviment Graffitti activist Andre Callus, who was seen being handcuffed and dragged away by police officers in Mosta.

“We don’t always agree but I admire his tenacity,” he said of Callus, adding that he saw many common points between Moviment Graffitti and the Labour Party’s core principles.

"I look forward to inviting Andre over for a coffee."