{"id":7451,"date":"2024-05-17T11:44:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T09:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/?post_type=article&p=7451"},"modified":"2024-05-17T11:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T09:46:03","slug":"dimostranti-jitolbu-li-ssir-gustizzja-dwar-l-iskandlu-tal-isptarijiet","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/article\/dimostranti-jitolbu-li-ssir-gustizzja-dwar-l-iskandlu-tal-isptarijiet\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesters call for justice on hospitals scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Brandishing Maltese flags as they marched down Valletta\u2019s Republic Street on Thursday evening, protestors called for justice and \u2018a cleaner Malta\u2019 following the Vitals magisterial inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstration was organized by NGO Repubblika and various civil society NGOs as well as UHM Voice of the Workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his former aide Keith Schembri, and other senior government officials have been recently summoned to face charges charged in connection with their roles in the management concession of three government hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare. The deal cost Maltese taxpayers some \u20ac400 million over the course of seven years from 2016 to 2023 when a court declare the concession as void. The judgment followed a National Audit Office investigation which found that there had been \u201ccollusion\u201d behind  this deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the protest in a message on Facebook, UHM CEO Josef Vella called for restraint in the wake of the spate of attacks against the judiciary. He insisted that the pillars of a democratic society \u2013 the executive, legislative and judiciary as well as free independent journalism \u2013 should be safeguard against any attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During Thursday\u2019s protest, activist Pia Zammit stated that recent events validated Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting on the hospital deal, highlighting the danger posed by Prime Minister Robert Abela\u2019s rhetoric labeling dissenters as \u201cthe establishment\u201d and accusing a magistrate of political terrorism. She emphasized that Abela\u2019s words had significant impact and accused him of abusing his power, contributing to a climate that led to Daphne\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Xuereb from the National Youth Council noted the importance of civil society uniting to demand reform, criticizing loyalty to political parties for weakening the country and disrupting society. She urged youths to stand against injustices and hold wrongdoers accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moviment Graffitti activist Robert Louis Fenech urged the Prime Minister to allow institutions to operate independently and criticized the idea of privatising public. He called for accountability for all involved in the Vitals deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repubblika president Vicki Anne Cremona condemned the deteriorating state of hospitals under the Muscat government, accusing officials of either incompetence or theft. She questioned why Abela was attacking the judiciary instead of holding Muscat accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Aquilina, Repubblika\u2019s honorary president, described the situation as a critical moment in Malta\u2019s history. He accused Muscat and Abela of undermining the judiciary and journalists, similar to the tactics used against Daphne. He stressed the need to defend public officials performing their duties and vowed that protests would continue until justice was achieved and Malta was cleaned up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brandishing Maltese flags as they marched down Valletta\u2019s Republic Street on Thursday evening, protestors called for justice and \u2018a cleaner Malta\u2019 following the Vitals magisterial inquiry. The demonstration was organized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7452,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[373],"issuem_issue_categories":[9],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7451"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7456,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7451\/revisions\/7456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=7451"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=7451"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=7451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}