The placing of two massive Christmas decorations just in front of the Great Siege Monument in Valletta, where a memorial dedicated to Daphne Caruana Caruana has been in place since her assassination eight years ago, has raised questions.

The decorations have been set up by the Valletta Cultural Agency.

The two large "gingerbread" figurines almost completely cover up the monument, and as a result also the memorial dedicated to Daphne, a subject of great political controversy.

For years, the memorial was regularly cleared by government workers, only for the flowers, photos and candles to be replaced. After the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his successor Robert Abela chose to take a different course.

In 2020, Malta's constitutional court ruled that minister Owen Bonnici had violated freedom of expression when he repeatedly ordered government workers to clean away a makeshift memorial to Caruana Galizia. 

But this did not stop detractors from clearing the memorial, the latest incident involving former OPM officer Neville Gafa, with Abela defending Gafa's actions saying that he had every right to express himself like all the rest.

The placing of the two massive decorations in front of the monument is seen by activists as another attempt to obscure the memorial.

Given all that has happened in the past, it is hard to contradict them.

It is not the first time that Christmas decorations in Valletta caused controversy. Last year, a Christmas Tree decorated with Maltese balconies, lanterns, and shutters, was criticized for being ugly and looking like a building, prompting public backlash and accusations that it reflected Malta's ongoing construction boom.

Officials defended the design as an innovative way to celebrate local traditions, while others called the spending a waste of taxpayer money.