Graffitti activists resume protest in Dingli as IM pushes ahead with controversial road

Moviment Graffitti activists are on their third day of a sit-in protest on the site of controversial roadworks to connect two cul-de-sacs in Dingli.

Infrastructure Malta contractors are on site attempting to make their way through an alleyway to commence initial waterworks, ahead of the road building.

The activists camped overnight on the field that will be obliterated by the road connecting the two alleys. Works started at 6am but activists stopped a digger from making its way through into the alley,

IM had previously stopped the works soon after they commenced in October 2020 after protests were raised by residents and Moviment Graffitti.

On Tuesday evening however, the Dingli local council gave its own unanimous support to the roadworks, with transport minister Ian Borg sharing the council livestream on his Facebook page.

Read more Dingli road residents want stopped: owner’s plan to build ‘room’ has ERA concerned

Last week the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal turned down an appeal against the Environment and Resources Authority’s permit for the uprooting of three trees in the site of the schemed street. In submissions to the EPRT, the ERA said the appellants did not have a juridical interest to make such an appeal. The ERA also reconfirmed its approval for the uprooting of the three trees, explaining that Infrastructure Malta was requested to plant 30 new trees as an adequate compensation in line with applicable regulations.

The Planning Authority also told the EPRT that there was no obligation for Infrastructure Malta to notify the PA about its works in Dingli since the new street between Dahla tas-Sienja Street, San Gwann Bosco Street and Il-Museum Alley was schemed as according to the local plan.

IM claims residents in Il-Musuem Alley and other nearby areas in Dingli want this new street, which will pass through agricultural fields outside development zones, to improve connectivity and create a safer access to numerous residences.

But farmers and residents oppose the new street. Additionally, a medieval chapel in Dingli which was amongst the first 10 parishes to be documented as early as 1436, was never given legal protection until direct action by Graffitti activists.

The Late Medieval Church of Santa Duminka had been proposed for scheduling just months before the 2013 election, in November 2012. But no action was taken for the past eight years to protect the chapel, with the scheduling placed on the backburner, and facilitating plans for a schemed road to link the two alleyways.