[IN PHOTOS] George Vella’s final Freedom Day as President

Nearly half a decade ago today, the British military closed shop in Malta as the foreign forces departed from the island on March 31, 1979, marking the occasion as Freedom Day.

Freedom Day 2024. (Photo: DOI/Alan Saliba)

On March 31, 2024, forty-five years later, President George Vella celebrated his final Freedom Day as the country’s head of state as his term soon comes to a close.

AFM soldiers in Vittoriosa on Sunday for Freedom Day. (Photo: DOI/Alan Saliba)

At the Freedom Monument in Vittoriosa, Vella participated in a wreath-laying ceremony alongside party leaders Robert Abela and Bernard Grech while the Armed Forces of Malta band played the Freedom anthem.

The ceremony ended with the national anthem.