Occupy Justice condemns prime minister’s defence of Gafa’s actions at Daphne memorial

Activist group Occupy Justice has criticised Prime Minister Robert Abela for defending the actions of Neville Gafa, who earlier this week removed tributes from the Great Siege Monument in Valletta, which has been the site of the long-standing protest memorial dedicated to Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In a strongly worded statement, the group said it “beggars belief” that the prime minister would describe Gafa’s actions as an exercise of freedom of expression, arguing that such acts amounted instead to “pure hatred towards the memory of an assassinated journalist”.

“Do we really need to remind our head of government that freedom of expression is not a free-for-all-say-what-you-like and that it is limited by laws and regulations that protect, amongst other things, the rights of others?” the statement read.

Occupy Justice accused Gafa of engaging in “institutionalised bullying” motivated by “deep hate” toward Caruana Galizia, insisting that his clearing of the site had “nothing to do with the preservation of a national monument”.

The group called on the Office of the Prime Minister to acknowledge that the Great Siege Monument serves as a protest site, not merely a “symbolic memorial”, as government representatives have described it.

The controversy follows comments by an OPM spokesperson who, in response to criticism from foreign embassies over the clearing of the site, said that “freedom of expression applies to all”.

Occupy Justice accused the prime minister of hypocrisy for defending the action while ignoring a 115-page court ruling affirming the right of activists to maintain the protest memorial. “When the judiciary issues a ruling stating that it is the protestors’ right to protest, he proceeds to ignore this completely,” the group said.

On the eighth anniversary of Caruana Galizia’s assassination, the activists said Abela had once again “chosen to defend the indefensible instead of paying tribute to her memory”. They accused him of failing to act on the public inquiry’s 2021 recommendations, despite having apologised for the state’s role in her murder.

“Robert Abela opts to appear clueless on fundamental human rights basics over doing what is right. If the leader of a nation chooses cluelessness over integrity, one has to ask — who is really pulling the reins?” the group said.

Concluding their statement, Occupy Justice reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining the protest memorial:

“We, the women of #OccupyJustice, have been insulted, harassed, bullied, threatened with violence, and vilified. And yet, we have persevered in preserving our protest for eight years and have no intention of stopping until justice is served.”