A few people gathered in Victoria on Sunday to raise awareness about overdevelopment and construction.
The ‘Save Gozo’ protest was attended by around 40 Gozitans and was supported by Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, which called for the preservation of heritage, quality of life and character of Gozo.
The protesters carried banners reading "Stop Destroying Gozo" and "Hands off Gozo".
“A fantastic group of people, of all ages, came together to express how much they love Gozo and how much they deplore its desecration. Gozo needs to be protected for future generations and not treated simply as a cash cow for developers,” FAA said in a statement.
People carried placards calling "Stop Uglification Stop overdevelopment" in Gozo on Sunday. Photo: FAAA similar impromptu protest was held at the same place last month.
“Gozitans are alarmed by what can only be seen as unremitting pro-development stance taken by the planning and environment authorities when they should be fulfilling their roles by protecting heritage and the environment whilst keeping ODZ land safe,” FAA said.
The NGO referred to the Gozo mayors, business and tourism entities that came together to hold a long-awaited meeting with the Environment Minister and the Planning Authority to demand an end of the construction mania happening on the sister island.
FAA said it wants to empower residents to stand up for their rights and make demands to the authorities. Gozitans should stand up for their rights to achieve a decent quality of life and for a better environment, and to raise awareness of the overdevelopment which is threatening the island, it said.
“Much of Malta has already been ruined by the uglification that the authorities have promoted through damaging policies which they refuse to rescind. The uglification is now spreading to Gozo with all its impacts of toxic pollution, wholesale destruction of heritage buildings and landscapes and erosion of quality of life. We need to stop this now.”