Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1532146
4 NEWS 4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2025 KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Stagno Navarra plays dangerous Jason Azzopardi over reserved parking KARL Stagno Navarra is on a mission to hound Jason Azzo- pardi in what has become a dan- gerous game that risks jeopard- ising the former MP's personal safety. Stagno Navarra's latest stunt to ambush Azzopardi after he parked outside his Sliema res- idence was the apex of a cam- paign that started back in Oc- tober. We'll get to Monday's filmed stunt further down but first we'll look at how all this started. Labour Party propagandist Manuel Cuschieri last year raised hell about a reserved parking spot for Azzopardi in a public car park on the Sliema front. Cuschieri's comments led to a barrage of criticism from Labour diehards towards the au- thorities for granting Azzopardi the reserved parking spot in Malta's prime shopping district. Prime Minister Robert Abe- la had also weighed in on the controversy, expressing doubts as to whether a police order to give Azzopardi a reserved park- ing spot in Sliema, was the result of Azzopardi's "wailing on social media". Sources close to the case had confirmed with MaltaToday that a risk assessment carried out by the police found that Azzopar- di was subject to a high threat level. The reserved parking spot in a public car park outside his Sliema residence was one of sev- eral security measures taken. The Stagno Navarra stunt Roll forward to the start of the year and in what appears to be retribution for Azzopardi's de- cision to seek five magisterial inquiries into different minis- ters and public officials over the Christmas period, the pressure to have the reserved parking space removed was rekindled. On Monday, Karl Stagno Navarra, whose political prop- aganda show on One TV was axed last summer, turned up at the Sliema car park to film his stunt. In a video posted to Facebook, he is seen walking towards the reserved parking space and showing his followers how it was painted over in black be- cause the authorities had finally removed it. A few minutes lat- er, Azzopardi arrives, parks his car and is confronted by Stagno Navarra, who asks him cordial- ly how does it feel to have the parking space removed. He asks Azzopardi: "Do you still feel ar- rogant?" Azzopardi calmy responds with a plain "yes" and crosses the road with the camera fol- lowing his actions. Several pub- lic officials employed in the sec- retariats of ministers 'liked' the video with some even asking for the head of the person who ini- tially granted the reserved park- ing space. Police: Azzopardi put in 'greater risk' What is disturbing about Stagno Navarra's stunt is that it came just two days after Az- zopardi had received an email from the police telling him that the reserved parking space will be withdrawn. In the email, seen by MaltaTo- day, the police told Azzopardi that the reserved parking space allocated by Transport Malta in front of his residence posed "a greater risk" to his personal safety because of the exposure of his personal vehicle details in "the media". The police of- fered to "discuss private security measures in more detail to help mitigate any risk". Ironically, 'the media' referred to in the police email was pur- portedly Stagno Navarra's own Facebook wall, where the for- mer One TV presenter had pre- viously uploaded videos of Az- zopardi's car with the number plate in full view. Photos of the reserved parking space with the number plate emblazoned on the ground were also shared on social media. Azzopardi: 'He needs psychiatric help' When contacted for this story, Jason Azzopardi said that last summer he had insisted with the police that the reserved parking should be "only after 7pm", after shops close. "I did not want to take up any space during the day but it was Transport Malta that told the police to reserve the space 24/7," Azzopardi said. He believes this was done pur- posely to "elicit the reaction in- stigated by Labour" and which ultimately resulted in the park- ing space being removed. Asked about Stagno Navarra's stunt, Azzopardi was brash: "He needs psychiatric help." Stagno Navarra: 'Era of arrogance is over' MaltaToday also contact- ed Stagno Navarra and asked him whether he realised that One-time Labour propaganda anchorman doxes former Nationalist MP whose unproven allegations and calls for investigations on MPs has heated up partisan rivalry Jason Azzopardi On Facebook, MEP David Casa said the mistakes of the past should not be repeated and insisted Azzopardi should not be left alone