Is the tide finally turning?

Abstract

Local environmentalists must have received a boost in recent weeks following the landmark court decisions on two important issues. Mr Justice Anthony Ellul set the house on fire by ruling that caravan owners permanently parked at Little Armier have no legal title to the land and that they should be evicted so that the immediate foreshore remains in the public domain. However, the ruling will probably not spell the end of the decades-long saga at L-Aħrax, where the thousands of squatters will use their lobby’s sheer electoral weight as their trump card. In fact, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was quick to say he will seek legal advice before acting on the ruling and that the ruling can always be appealed. For those who have campaigned long and hard to see all squatters evicted from L-Aħrax, this statement comes as a slap in the face. Muscat should realise that the historic opportunity of finally making L-Aħrax ‘tagħna lkoll’ once again is too good to waste. If this wasn’t enough, the illegal caravan owners have demanded an alternative site to which they can be transferred. Such ‘compensation’ should not even be discussed or considered since, if granted, it would set a dangerous precedent that a law-flouting lobby can always be accommodated if it is large enough.