Prime Minister Robert Abela said that the Mosta Local Council could have better communicated with the public, over the Mosta trees situation and urged the council to listen to the people.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Abela was asked for his reaction to the situation in the Mosta square, where activists are to camp overnight in protest, halting the process of uprooting the existing Ficus trees, which had their branches cut off on Monday.

During the protest, Moviment Graffitti activist Andre Callus was forcibly removed from the Mosta square by the police, but was released soon after. Police officers grabbed him and while he was on the ground, he was handcuffed. Officers then lifted him up and he was taken away from the site.

Abela emphasized that the right to protest peacefully is sacred and protected, saying that this right prevails in protests. On the other hand, he understood the function and responsibilities of the police, saying that "perhaps it could have been exercised in a more calibrated way."

On the merit of the protest, Abela said that the communication by the Mosta Local Council had to be better, adding that whoever occupies public positions must constantly communicate with the public.

"This was a unanimous decision of the Mosta local council, not a decision made by government," Abela also said, adding that the decision seems to have remained the same and unrevised.

He clarified that the decision of the local council is not to completely destroy the 12 Ficus trees and replace it with concrete, but these trees will be moved and transported to an already allocated area in Santa Margherita, also in Mosta, and will be re-planted to grow there.

Replacing them will be 12 indigenous trees, Abela said.

"I appeal that whoever forms part of the local council, both the PL and PN representatives, to continue listening to the people, especially when there is a certain sensitivity around a situation," Abela said, adding that communication with the people and sensitivity towards their concerns must remain.

He urged the local council to further dialogue and explain the works it is doing with good intentions, of which Abela said he had no doubt of.

"I believe their intention is to embellish the locality, but when those intentions are not explained well, then they must come out and re-explain," Abela said, adding that if it needs to make further considerations and other decisions, nothing should be excluded.

If the council's decision remains the same, then there should be further dialogue, Abela said.

Abela said that the proposal in itself is not to destroy the trees, as if it were, he would be the first to come out and strongly condemn it.

"I understand this is a question of great sensitivity, and I appeal for the local council to remain unanimous in its decisions but also listen to the people's perspectives, dialogue and explain its intentions, and re-evaluate the situation after it has listened to the opinions of the locals," Abela said.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in a Facebook post referred to Callus' arrest by the police in Mosta, saying that "one has the right to protest peacefully, and nobody, not even the police, should disrupt this right," Camilleri said.