As activists prepared to spend their night in tents at Mosta Square on Tuesday, Times of Malta asked them if they believed their actions would stop the uprooting of trees.

They turned up at Mosta Square in the morning halting the uprooting of old trees that are being transplanted to another part of the locality in a move that sparked widespread anger.

Their action followed uproar on Monday when 12 ficus trees were "pruned" in preparation for uprooting because of embellishment works around the Rotunda.

On Tuesday afternoon, activist Andre Callus was manhandled and dragged away from the area by the police as they tried to put up a fence around the trees. 

Listen to what they had to say in the video above.