Malta rises: thousands to march against PA reform in biggest land protest since 2015

**‘Justice for our land’: National protest against PA reform on October 4**
*by Hot Malta staff*

Valletta’s Republic Street will echo with drums, chants and the rustle of homemade banners on Friday 4 October as thousands of Maltese citizens – farmers, hunters, environmentalists, parish priests, pensioners and first-time activists – converge on Parliament to tell Robert Abela’s government “hands off our land”. The nationwide demonstration, co-ordinated by a spontaneous coalition of 42 NGOs under the hashtag #JusticeForOurLand, is the biggest grassroots push-back since the 2015 spring hunting referendum, and it is aimed squarely at the controversial Planning Authority reform package tabled last month.

At first glance the amendments sound bureaucratic: a shift from “development zones” to “designated growth areas”, faster permit turnaround times, and the removal of the obligatory Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) sign-off on projects under 50 units. But in a country where every olive grove, garigue slope and terraced field is either someone’s childhood playground or a family’s last plot of ancestral earth, the changes feel existential. “They are turning the PA into a rubber-stamp for speculators,” warned 68-year-old Żebbuġ farmer Rita Sammut, who will board one of 80 free buses chartered from Gozo, Mellieħa and Birżebbuġa. “If we don’t march now, the cranes will be over our citrus trees by Christmas.”

The timing is culturally charged. October marks the start of the olive harvest and the feast of the Rosary, when villages traditionally bless the fields. Several parish pastoral councils have endorsed the protest, urging bell-ringers to sound their bells at noon in solidarity. Even the usually apolitical Band Clubs Association has offered percussion sections to lead the crowd in a rousing “Ġustizzja għal Artna”, set to the tune of the classic hymn *Marġa, Ħobża u Ħalib*. It is this fusion of rural identity and popular folklore that organisers hope will swell numbers beyond the usual NGO circuit.

The government insists the reform is needed to cut red tape and tackle a housing backlog that has pushed prices 35% above the EU average. “We will not be intimidated by scaremongering,” Environment Minister Miriam Dalli told Times of Malta, pointing to new “green roofs” incentives and a €700 million pledge for social housing. Yet leaked PA board minutes show 78% of applications since January are for luxury high-rise outside development zones, fuelling suspicions that ordinary buyers are being priced out while investors cash in on golden passports.

For many, the protest is also a reckoning with the country’s construction addiction. Malta has lost 35% of its agricultural land since 2008; bird-ringers report a 60% drop in farmland lark populations; and Gozitan cheesemakers warn that qubbajt (traditional nougat) will soon rely on imported almonds because valley orchards are being quarried for concrete. “We are not against progress, but we want development that tastes like ħobż biż-żejt, not like drywall,” said 27-year-old chef and Tik-Tok influencer Kim Borg, who will livestream the march to her 92,000 followers.

Business owners are split. While the Malta Developers Association donated €10,000 to a counter-campaign titled “Build for Jobs”, the Gozo Tourism Association has sided with protesters, fearing over-development will kill the rural charm that sells farm-stay holidays. Meanwhile, hoteliers in Sliema report a 15% spike in last-minute bookings from Maltese expats flying home specifically to march – a mini-boom nicknamed “protest tourism”.

Security will be tight; 120 police officers have been seconded from district stations, and Valletta’s main car parks will close at 7 a.m. Yet the vibe is expected to be carnival-esque: students from MCAST are building a giant cardboard crane daubed with blood-red handprints, and a brass-band version of *Viva l-Malta* is rehearsed for the final rally outside the Triton Fountain. Organisers have promised a “human chain of lanterns” at dusk, echoing the 1989 Freedom Peace vigil that greeted Bush-Gorbachev.

Whether the government budges remains to be seen. Backbench MPs have already tabled 200+ amendments, and sources inside Castille say a “face-saving” compromise could be unveiled the night before. But for people like Rita Sammut, compromise is measured in centimetres of topsoil. “My nanna planted these trees during the war,” she says, fingering a sprig of wild fennel. “We won’t bargain with our roots.”

As the sun sets on Friday, Malta will discover whether those roots still run deep enough to hold the rock – or whether concrete will pour over the cracks.