Indymedia Malta

Moviment Graffitti has today staged a protest in front of the opening ceremony of the new parliament. Moviment Graffitti has claimed in a press-statement that Malta's two party system is disrupting any real democratic dialogue in the country. An example which is usually brought to prove this point is that this system is also preventing Alternattiva Demokratika from being represented in parliament due to district counting.

Policy brutality was a negative syndrome which existed since the birth of Maltese statehood. Its perpetual activity through history has given a bleak result of apathy to the situation. The lack of interest from the media on the Nicholas Azzopardi case is a fine example of this fact. The police stated that Nicholas Azzopardi had escaped from police custody and than later fell in a ditch, on the 8^th April. Just before he died in hospital, Nicholas Azzopardi claimed that he was beaten by the police and then thrown in the ditch to Magistrate Tonio Vella who interrogated the victim, alone. Investigations are currently under way but no new disciplinary measures will be enforced to control this ongoing problem of abuse of power.

Two ex-Moviment Graffitti activists have been sentenced a 100 Euro payement for damages and a six month conditional discharge, by court, on a protest they had done at least three years ago. The protest invovled an action against the unconstitutional use of Maltese harbours by the American Navy. The activists tried to write messages with red paint on the USS Obanon when SAG members stopped the activists. During the scuffle, the paint had spread all over their uniforms.

A new issue of Ir-Realta' has just been issued and it offers a varied selection of interviews and analytical articles. Just after a month from the last event, called A[VOID], the Collective has produced another free newspaper which can be collected from University. For more information go to www.realtamadwarek.org or send an email to realta[stopspam]@inventati.org – (remove [stopspam]

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi during a visit to MEPA has recently claimed that it must put more effort to enforce its regulations and make the institution more transparent. Nevertheless, MEPA seems to be the same old institution and developers are yet not stopped from breaking the law.

Today Moviment Graffitti has staged a peaceful protest at the official ceremony which inaugurated Freedom Day. Freedom Day is usually remembered as the day when Malta stopped being used as a British military base. Moviment Graffitti claims that the ceremony is a big deception to all the public due to the fact that US and NATO warships use local harbours freely. The protest was staged by a display of large pictures of people who suffered wounds from war, and the sounds of war coming out of a loudspeaker to indicate the irony of the situation.

Yesterday, Moviment Graffitti organized an open demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy against the repression of independence protests in Tibet. In the recent week full-scale protests have erupted in Tibet over Chinese rule. Alarmed by the bad-timing of the protests, just few weeks before the Olympic Games, which will be held in China the authorities have suppressed all protests and demonstrations. The Chinese government has insisted that the protests are a part of a plan by the Dalai Lama to sabotage the Olympic Games but he has denied any involvement in the protests. The protests have caused a lot of damage but were heavily suppressed with the military and many dissdents were arrested.

A couple of months ago a small article about illegal dumping of waste at the coast of Xghajra between Zabbar and Marsascala was posted on Indymedia Malta (www.malta.indymedia.org). Construction waste was being dumped in different spots in the large public and undeveloped space of Xghajra's coast and no authority has until now, made an effort to stop the illegal dumping. Trucks have only one road in which they can drive, to arrive in the rough terrain of the coast.

An area in Attard, know as Ta Fgieni (behind Villa Bologna) is now being threatened with private development. Attard has been developing at a fast rate, in this last recent years and the residents are now furious that one of the last open spaces in the area will be taken away. Ta Fgieni has been declared as 'public open space' since the 1970s and the proposed development will threaten the historic tower and crenellated wall of Villa Bologna. To acquire more information please visit www.saveattard.com

An art Exhibition of drawings by Jewish children who were imprisoned in the fortress-town of Terezin in Czech, is going on at Saint James Cavallier. Terezin was used as a ghetto and concentration camp by the Nazis, during the Second World War. These are some of the few drawings that are on display.