It was early in the week that the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) had a permit for a peaceful sit-down protest refused by police on the basis of legal restrictions on mass events – ironically, the same legal restrictions which they are protesting against.

Events are currently restricted to a maximum attendance of 100 people, who had to be seated and in an enclosed space and for people with a vaccination certificate only – regulations which the MEIA described as a “joke” and as being nowhere near enough to sustain the people who work in this industry.

Their planned protest – scuppered by police order – was after talks with government authorities for a more reasonable solution to this industry broke down.

Imagine their chagrin, then, when on Thursday, hundreds descended on Hamrun to celebrate the presentation of the BOV Premier League trophy to the town’s football team in what became effectively a street party.

To add insult to injury, the whole thing was transmitted live on the state broadcaster and had a number of politicians very proudly present, as their social media pages have attested.

The incident has left the arts industry with an overarching feeling of anger, and the MEIA – rightly – saying “two weights and two measures.”

It would be wrong, however, to simply shift the blame onto football fans who went out and celebrated.

Yes, they broke the law – that’s not in doubt here, and nor is this an attempt to justify it. 

However, we have to remember that the South End Core had proposed a strategy which would see football stadiums reopened at limited capacities for games, and even celebrations which, under the strategy, could be done in a controlled manner.

That strategy was rejected, and even ridiculed when it was made.

If artists are being discriminated against, then the matter is very similar for sports fans: we must ask, how is a wedding of 300 people in one venue, or people cramming into bars under the guise of social distance safe, when opening a stadium which – in Ta’ Qali’s case for instance – has a capacity of 18,000 people to a limited number of people?

This comes while other countries around Europe are currently hosting the Euro 2020 tournament with fans in the stadiums, at varying capacities.  The situation is such that Maltese people (as some ministers have shared) can go abroad, watch a game of football, and come back to the country without issue – while in Malta, they can’t even set foot inside a stadium.

Had there been more realistic regulations on events, both for the arts sector and for the sports sector, then the mass gatherings seen in Hamrun could have been avoided and the arts and entertainment industry would be able to sustain itself.

People would have still been able to celebrate, but at least they’d have done it in a regulated environment where authorities could even have ensured that all attendees are vaccinated.

Instead, we had the crowds seen on Wednesday in a completely free-for-all and unregulated environment.

One must also keep in mind that such gatherings aren’t one offs – every weekend Paceville and the surrounding area is invaded by foreign tourists or students without a care in the world for social distancing or gathering laws.

The Maltese people was, rightly, encouraged to get vaccinated so that their lives can start to return to some semblance of normality. 

Now they’ve been vaccinated – Malta has the highest vaccination rate in Europe by a country mile – but it now seems like this was mostly to accommodate the return of tourists rather than to actually have their lives start to return to normality.

Is this a call to just open up for everyone to do as they please?  Far from it.

However, it is clear that more realistic regulations – which take advantage of the fact that the bulk of the population is now fully vaccinated, and which fully penalise those who still break the law – when it comes to mass gatherings are needed.  Otherwise, we are going to keep ending up with situations like last Thursday.