The Planning Authority said it has started to remove 900 unsightly placards and posters which were abusively fixed in various prominent areas around Malta during the night.

The placards and posters were affixed nine months to the day after the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In a statement, the PA said the display of the placards was abusive because no permission was obtained from any public entity, nor from the owner of the land. In addition, these constituted a traffic hazard, in view of their location and number, due to the distraction such placards may create.

The Billboards and Advertisements Regulations prohibit the fixing or placing of such placards. The PA may immediately enter the land and remove them. The PA has taken several actions to remove such abusive placards which were fixed on trees, pylons, walls, and even glued onto feast decorations.

Meanwhile a vigil in honour of the slain journalist was held in Valletta in the evening. 

A group of people, many of them holding placards with similar messages, congregated in front of the Law Courts and later moved on Castille Square. 

In a statement about the event, Occupy Justice said: “The football World Cup may be over, but here in Malta the World Cup of Corruption is still ongoing.  We still have three key players who have been shown the red card over and over, yet they won’t get off the pitch.

They are ruining the reputation of #Team Malta.”

The activists said they wanted to remind the PM that, nine months after the murder, the country still does not know who commissioned the killing.

“We are still waiting for the Police to start interrogating politicians who have been linked to corrupt practices, politicians who Daphne wrote about.”

Occupy Justice said there was enough evidence to show that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi had “set up a money laundering structure in order to receive illicit kickbacks.”

They accused Muscat of using his institutional office to protect them instead of firing them.

 

Referring to the European Banking Authority’s report on the FIAU they said: “#occupyjustice has given the three of you - Muscat, Schembri and Mizzi - the red card because you are spiralling Malta’s reputation down the drain. Corruption is not only coming home, corruption is already here and festering. Get off our pitch before it’s too late.”

Vigil photos: Alenka Falzon