The Valletta street hawkers who make up the open-air market (monti) staged a protest along the central streets of the capital yesterday, chanting “Monti, monti” and “Irridu xogholna” (we want our work).

Last week the government ordered the hawkers to temporarily relocate their stalls to St James Ditch while new paving is laid in Merchants Street.

Throughout Monday and yesterday, they parked their vans and gathered at the entrance to the ditch, refusing to put up their stalls as a sign of protest, since they are complaining that they will suffer a loss of custom if they operate from St James Ditch.

The 115 hawkers are all members of the Union Haddiema Maqghudin (UHM), whose representatives promised their full support to the hawkers in their fight to safeguard their livelihood.

Speaking just before they staged the protest, UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella told the street hawkers that it was good that they were protesting when the government was “denying them their jobs in an arbitrary manner.”

Mr Vella was flanked by all the union’s different section secretaries and he said this was a sign that they had the whole union’s support.

“Faced with such intransigence from the government’s side, the union wants to show that it is in favour of your interests and those of your families. Solidarity is a very important value of trade unionism,” he told them.

He added that he was aware that their protests came at a price, since they were losing money by refusing to put up their stalls, but again he promised them the union’s full support.

The issue regarding the relocation of the open-air market (its location until last week being part of Old Theatre Street, and the stretch along Merchants Street from St John Street to Old Theatre Street) has been ongoing for the past two years, during which time the government attempted to discuss alternative locations with a committee of street hawkers, who were never ready to consider any change.

Mr Vella said the hawkers were happy that Merchants Street was being embellished, and they were ready to temporarily relocate their stalls to Freedom Square or Ordinance Street, and then to return to their old location in Merchants Street once it was done up.

As tourists and locals tried to see what the protest was all about, the street hawkers carried banners with phrases such as “Djalogu Farsa” (a farcical dialogue), and “Ghaliex il-foss?” (Why does it have to be the ditch?). They walked along Glormu Cassar Avenue and up to Castille Place.

They then passed through South Street and Republic Street, and as they walked along Old Theatre Street and Merchants Street, the hawkers chanted “Hawnhekk huwa taghna” (this area is ours) and “Nergghu nigu narmaw hawn” (we will come back here to put up our stalls).

The area the government is proposing to allocate for the open-air market stretches along the part of Merchants Street from Old Theatre Street to Archbishop Street.

The trees in the square outside the historic Valletta market (Is-Suq tal-Belt) will be removed, so that all the space will be made available for the hawkers’ stalls. The stretch in Old Theatre Street that was already allocated to some other stalls also forms part of the proposed allocation.

A government representative said on Monday that Freedom Square, the temporary location suggested by the hawkers for the open-air market, was unacceptable. He said the government was ready to continue to hold talks with the street hawkers to discuss their problems.

The government has proceeded with its plan and late on Sunday, workers started digging up parts of Merchants Street to inspect the water pipes laid below the surface.

Meanwhile, the street hawkers were ordered to temporarily relocate their stalls to St James Ditch. The government promised that they would be able to put up their stalls at the new location by 1 July.

By that time, the square outside the Valletta market will not be paved, but it will have a neat layer of cement and will be safe to work on. The government said it was making an effort to minimise the length of time during which the project will be completed.

The square will then be paved during a three-week period some time between August and September, when hawkers would be able to relocate their stalls to St James Ditch before the open-air market is put up at the new area permanently.

The reasons given by the government for the relocation was that the new area further down Merchants Street provides a more practical fit for an open-air market. It also provides for less disturbance and inconvenience to shops and offices in the street.

As for the temporary relocation, the government acknowledged that the site was not as prominent as Merchants Street, but the hawkers were allowed to occupy the area leading from the entrance downwards into the ditch.

Even though most of the hawkers put up their stalls at the ditch on Sundays, some of them said yesterday that the Sunday market stretches along the part where buses are parked during the week and there were no marks on the road that showed where they should have put up their stalls.

As buses moved into and out of the area where the hawkers were gathered yesterday – one of them even slightly hitting a hawker’s van in the process – many of them complained, saying it was impossible to work in those conditions.

The UHM secretary general said that although government representatives had informed him that a meeting would be held soon to discuss the matter, no date has been appointed as yet. The hawkers are determined to proceed with their protest until the union orders further action.

Meanwhile, in reaction to a statement issued by the Labour Party on Monday, the Industry, Investment and IT Ministry said that the Labour Party tried to take advantage of the lack of agreement between the government and the Valletta street hawkers.

The ministry statement said the Labour Party made a vague commitment to “engage in serious dialogue with the street hawkers following the forthcoming general election, in a bid to find a decent and acceptable solution for all involved in the matter.”

If the MLP wanted to put the hawkers’ mind at rest, it should have given its opinion on the relocation of the open-air market; any other comment from the Labour Party was superfluous, said the statement.