The monti hawkers are up in arms against the government after they were ordered to start setting up their stands at St James Ditch as from Monday.

The hawkers are being relocated because the government will be starting the multi-phased programme to lay new paving in Merchants Street – where they set up their stalls at present – part of which is being pedestrianised.

The hawkers, most of whom set up their stalls at St James Ditch on Sundays, are complaining that they will not sell as much if they are moved there for the whole week.

Addressing a press conference in Merchants Street, Union Haddiema Maghqudin secretary-general Gejtu Vella said that the 116 monti hawkers are members of the UHM, and the union could not understand how a decision had been taken to relocate them without any consultation.

Mr Vella said no practical solution has been found for the Merchants street refurbishment programme and while the union agreed with the embellishment of the street, it did not agree with the way decisions had been taken to relocate the monti hawkers.

Mr Vella said the hawkers’ standard of living would fall if they were relocated to St James Ditch and added that this was unacceptable to both the hawkers and the union.

He said that although they had been assured that the relocation would only be in place for between seven and nine months – until the work in Merchants Street has been completed – these time spans could not be taken seriously because no project was ever concluded on time in Malta.

Mr Vella did not give a detailed reply when he was asked if the union had an alternative location to propose while the new paving was being laid. He said: “We have to sit down and discuss possible solutions.”

The last time the monti hawkers set up their stalls for any length of time in St James ditch was between 1973 and 1974. That time they had spent around 10 months there.