Malta yesterday marked the 29th anniversary of the departure of British forces stationed in Malta, on 31 March 1979, with the traditional wreath-laying ceremonies at Freedom Monument in Vittoriosa in the morning and the hotly-contested Grand Harbour Regatta in the afternoon.

Yesterday’s official celebrations saw an Armed Forces of Malta band and a Guard of Honour marching from Gavino Gulia Square along the waterfront to Freedom Monument, where President Eddie Fenech Adami inspected an AFM Guard of Honour before he and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi laid their commemorative wreaths before the symbolic monument.

Opponents to Malta’s recent reapplication for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s Partnership for Peace project seized the occasion to make their voices heard.

Left-wing activist group Moviment Graffitti brought out loud speakers just as Malta’s respective heads of state and government laid their wreaths at the monument, which marks the British force’s departure from Malta, to express their disagreement with Malta’s reapplication, while another group stood behind the Guard of Honour brandishing placards and images of war casualties.

In a statement issued later in the day the pressure group expressed “grave concern” over the direction Malta’s foreign policy is taking, remarking it was strange how a “decision of such importance was taken unilaterally without any form of consultation and without featuring on the political manifesto of the Nationalist Party. The group observed that the fact that the decision was taken unexpectedly, coupled by the positive reaction from the United States “show that underlying this decision there must have been political pressure from the United States”.

In another statement issued yesterday, Zminijietna - Voice of the Left - observed it was ironic how Malta was celebrating Freedom Day “in the shadow of NATO”, describing the government’s decision to rejoin the partnership as “rash, undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of neutrality” in that it had been taken without parliamentary consultation.

Laying wreaths at the monument on Sunday, Malta Labour Party acting leader Charles Mangion - accompanied by MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon and secretary general Jason Micallef – took the opportunity to question the government’s unilateral decision to reactivate Malta’s PfP membership without holding any form of consultation, and appealed to the government to consult the opposition on foreign affairs and other similar matters of national interest.

General Workers’ Union secretary general Tony Zarb also laid wreaths at the foot of the monument later on Sunday.

While Freedom Day commemorates the final withdrawal of British troops and the Royal Navy from Malta, Independence Day marks the date on which Malta became an independent state, 21 September 1964. Both days are national holidays.