From Mr M. Aquilina

Full marks go to the “bright spark” that authorised the helicopter/s to hover and circulate for a long period of time at a dangerously low altitude directly over thousand of fans (locals and tourists alike) attending the recent MTV Concert at Floriana. Well done! This was a repeat blunder of what happened at last year’s MTV concert. One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to be aware of the dangers posed by such a threat hovering at low level above the crowd. Just imagine what a tragedy it would have been (God forbid!) if something went wrong on the helicopter.

The helicopter was flying too low for comfort and at that level it would have been impossible to tactically avoid the crowd in case of any mechanical failure or human error. Instead of providing peace of mind and “civil protection”, this was a case of exposing the crowd to unnecessary life threatening risks imposed “from above”.

Apart from this “airborne” threat, the situation on the ground was even worse than last year. Crowd management left much to be desired and was practically non-existent, as it consisted solely of metal barriers “caging in” and acutely restricting escape routes in case of emergency. Mobility was very limited. No passages were left clear in the central and lateral areas to facilitate circulation and crowd movement.

Crowd safety was not enforced and was seriously lacking during the entire concert. Numerous people could be seen carrying ample supplies of glass beer bottles that were simply thrown to the ground when empty. Apart from the obvious dangers of having such a number of bottles at hand, the ground was completely littered with them, most of which were broken when people kicked or stepped on them. This posed a serious risk of foot injuries.

Why allow glass bottles to circulate freely at such venues? Why is alcohol so freely sold even to under age drinkers during such events?

Having legislation is one thing, enforcing it is another!

Mario Aquilina