Mosta stall owners set up their monti stands as usual on Monday, but people stayed away.

The government said last week that only stalls selling food items would be allowed, and they would have to be several metres away from each other.

But on Monday morning almost the usual number of stalls could be seen at the Mosta monti, including those selling clothes, washing liquid and household items.

People, however, stayed away, and within a couple of hours several of the stall owners started packing and going home.

One of the stall owners said they had initially been told by the police not to set up the stalls, but they were then allowed anyway.