The Mosta Local Council appeared to once again lament against and criticise protesters who fought against the removal of decades-old Ficus trees in the town’s square last week in a post on social media.

The local council was in the news after it hastily announced that a group of Ficus trees which adorned the town square were to be removed as part of a €250,000 so-called landscaping plan for the general area.

The announcement was made a mere 12 hours before works began, with activists first noting how the trees had been ‘butchered’ and then hosting a sit-in protest to stop works from taking place. 

The protest culminated in the local council mayor – Labour mayor Chris Grech – announcing the reversal of the decision, but not before a protestor had been arrested by police during the sit-in.

The council had said that 12 holm oak (Ballut) trees would replace the Ficus trees, and on Monday evening the same council took to Facebook to announce that these trees had arrived.

“A week late, true, but these are the big, Maltese, indigenous trees which were going to be planted instead of the Ficus trees which had a more ideal placement planned than where they remain today,” the council said.

“It is a real pity that, as happens, many times we do not allow chance for the project to be completed,” the council said.

The holm oak trees will be left temporarily in the village square to make up for the Ficus trees which had been butchered during the first day of works last week.