Spazji Miftuħa rallies activists on 31 October against Miżieb handover to hunters

Spazji Miftuħa, a coalition of more than 60 NGOs, will be expressing public outrage at the government’s disregard for natural and cultural heritage and the handover of Aħrax and Miżieb to the hunters’ lobby in a peaceful sit-down protest front of Castille on Saturday 31 October at 10 am.

The protest will be held in full respect of social distancing rules. The public is being invited to bring their own placards with their own personal messages to government.

The protest comes in the wake of an agreement signed by the government handing the FKNK, the largest hunting organisation, control over ore control over two traditional hunting grounds in Miżieb and l-Aħrax, which are popular recreational areas for the Maltese public.

The sites will be accessible to the public only when there is no hunting season: which includes both the two-week spring hunting season, and five months of autumn hunting. The FKNK which will pay 400 for managing two sites five times the size of Buskett will also determine which public areas can be designated as picnic areas, save for areas during which these will be closed in the hunting season.

The signing took place two weeks ago, behind closed the doors and without the press being invited to ask questions. Earlier plans to sign the agreement in public were shelved after the social media was flooded with expressions of public outrage. A spontaneous protest still attracted dozens of people despite not being widely publicised.

Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia who attended the signing of the agreement has himself expressed discomfort with the agreement, declaring that criticism of the agreement was “justified.”

“Over the past few days I have spoken to a lot of people and I understand that there has been justified criticism coming from those who want more open spaces,” the minister said.

Over 30,000 persons have signed an online petition against the agreement. The coalition has already presented a judicial protest questioning the legality of the deal.