Updated | MIDI chief says people can access Manoel Island coast by boat, as new gates are erected

MIDI chief executive Luke Coppini has defended the consortium’s decision to install new metal gates that stop the public from walking into Manoel Island, arguing that access to the foreshore is still available by boat.

In an interview with ONE News, Coppini said that people have been forbidden from walking into Manoel Island, so as to prevent them from accessing the historical sites on the island, in particular Fort Manoel and the former Lazzaretto hospital.

“Even with a gate in place, people used to break in and vandalize the place around three or four times a year, and last year a group of vandals burned a vault at Lazzaretto,” he said. “We haven’t closed the gates because we are capricious, but because we want to safeguard the country’s heritage.

MIDI chief executive Luke Coppini was interviewed on ONE TV

“However, we didn’t close off access to the foreshore – several people visit Manoel Island from Sliema or Valletta by boat.”

Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche and a group of activists from the Kamp Emergenza Ambjent (KEA) movement broke open the gates in a major environmental protest. However, MIDI have since erected two new metal gates to block the two entrances into Manoel Island and have claimed that protestors had vandalised Fort Manoel over the weekend.

A number of people walked up to the island this morning, only to be met with locked gates affixed with warning signs such as ‘No entry- private property’, ‘Restricted area’, and ‘Danger-construction site’, while security officials have been assigned to the main gate.

Saturday’s break-in followed a judicial protest by the Gzira local council demanding public access to the foreshore, and a protest by the main gate of Manoel Island. Both Borg Manche and KEA confirmed that a clean-up of the island will take place on Saturday as planned, regardless of whether MIDI accept or not.

Luke Coppini suggested that he will be willing to negotiate some form of compromise with the Gzira local council and the environmentalists to “grant some sort of concession to access the foreshore”. However, he warned that demonstrations and protests will put spokes in the wheels of potential negotiations.

“Unfortunately activities are currently being held at Manoel Island every few days, and this isn’t fostering dialogue.”

Coppini claimed on Tuesday that some protestors resorted to vandalism at Fort Manoel, allegations that were instantly shot down by Borg Manche and KEA. Indeed, Borg Manche accused MIDI of leaving a side door to Fort Manoel wide open on purpose.

“KEA activists later told me that they had asked security officials to close the fort’s gates, but were told that they were under orders by MIDI to leave them open,” he told MaltaToday.

People were left disappointed as they came face to face with the new gates. Photo: Chris Mangion

However, Coppini insisted that MIDI left access to the heritage sites on Manoel Island closed. When asked by ONE to prove that the vandalism at Fort Manoel took place this weekend, he responded: “First, they claimed that there wasn’t access to Manoel Island, but now that I said that vandalism occurred, they are saying it had taken place earlier. Decide…there was either access to Manoel Island or there wasn’t. I can assure you that a lot of vandalism took place over the weekend.”

He added that he had left the main gate to Manoel Island open on the morning of the break-in, after finding out about KEA’s plans on Friday night.

“I found out about KEA’s planned activity on Friday evening. I only had one security guard on duty between Friday night and Saturday morning, and I knew he couldn’t control hundreds of people. To alleviate problems as much as possible, I decided to give the public access to Manoel Island, except for to the heritage sites.”

KEA had not gone public about their planned protest, and indeed Borg Manche said that he had only got to know about it that same morning when one of the activists sent him a SMS.