Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/470920
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 MARCH 2015 4 News MIRIAM DALLI AFTER spending months in de- liberation, the hunters finally an- nounced their participation in the spring hunting referendum with fighting words, in what FKNK boss Joe Perici Calascione says is going to be "a war". "This is not just a battle but a war," Perici Calascione told The Times of Malta, soon after a press conference invoking all the elements of political party campaigning took place at the Limestone Heritage. A group of youths in green, blue and purple t-shirts sat in front of an 'Iva' billboard acting as a backdrop to a panel of three speakers while glossy booklets featuring a happy family of three out in the countryside were distributed. Similarly to a previous front cover of a waving Maltese flag on an elec- toral manifesto, a white 'Iva' logo carries a red waving flag. Speaking to The Times, Perici Ca- lascione said research conducted ahead of the campaign announce- ment had indicated that while lob- bying for an abstention may have resulted in a victory for the hunters, there was no absolute guarantee of this. Yet, it wasn't Perici Calascione, FKNK CEO Lino Farrugia or a Kac- caturi San Ubertu (KSU) representa- tive who addressed the media: the campaign is being fronted by Sylvana Zarb Darmanin, a company manag- er, Daniel Sciriha, a supervisor in an insurance firm, and lawyer Kathleen Grima – from the law firm of former minister Emmanuel Mallia. The Yes campaign claims it is formed by "minorities" who have joined in the hunting lobbies FKNK's and KSU's effort to campaign for a Yes vote to retain spring hunting. Present in the crowd attending the launch were Labour MPs Anthony Agius Decelis and Joe Sammut, La- bour candidate Clint Camilleri, a number of PL mayors, councillors and other members of the PL. The campaigners said the Yes vote also enjoyed the support of several Nationalist members, including PN leader Simon Busuttil and President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami. Sciriha boasted of the hunters' suc- cess in collecting over 100,000 signa- tures in under four months for a pe- tition to MPs against the referendum – which petition has been found to contain false signatures – compared to the eight months it took the Coali- tion Against Spring Hunting to col- lect 40,000 signatures. The CASH petition eventually was approved in the Constitutional Court, to hold an abrogative referen- dum against spring hunting, which is banned by the EU. The referen- dum asks voters whether they want to stop the Maltese government from derogating from the EU ban on spring hunting. "All those forming part of a minor- ity feel threatened by the referen- dum," Sciriha said. "Everyone forms part of one minority or another and a group of people are now planning to eradicate traditions and hobbies which make us Maltese." Sylvana Zarb Darmanin instead railed against the "influence of for- eigners who come to Malta" claim- ing that the Maltese should "never accept foreigners telling us what we should and shouldn't do in our country. They have to respect us, how we live. When we visit the UK, hunting can be held 24 hours every day, including spring and not in 20 mornings a year. We wouldn't think of campaigning to tell them what to do." Lawyer Kathleen Grima, who has filed a libel suit for FKNK chief ex- ecutive Lino Farrugia against Malta- Today over a cartoon depicting him relieving himself in the countryside, said that "no true Maltese or Gozitan will accept that something accepted by the EU Court should be denied to these same Maltese". She was referring to a 2009 Euro- pean Court of Justice decision that did not ban the derogation from the spring hunting ban employed by the Maltese government. "Today it's hunting, tomorrow it will be other activities… the abroga- tive referendum can be used against any legislation." The campaign will be planting in- digenous trees every day up until the 11 April referendum. Grima said the campaign was sepa- rate from the FKNK and the KSU fraternities, when asked to comment over their refusal to give comments to the independent newspapers that are supporting the No campaign. She refused to comment on the libel suit filed by Farrugia. "It is still sub judice… there were other car- toons featuring FKNK and no action was taken. One has yet to see wheth- er this cartoon was libellous or not." Grima was asked how she could claim that every hobby was threat- ened by the abrogative referendum, when spring hunting was the only practice that required derogating from its effective ban. "Hobbies can still be targeted with a law… by holding a referendum on parts of a legal schedule, you can tar- get other laws that provide for, for example, fireworks licences," Grima said. MIRIAM DALLI INSTEAD of divulging lies and falsi- ties and hiding behind fancy facades, the hunters should be responding to requests for participation and taking part in debates, Spring Hunting Out (SHout) campaigners said yesterday. SHout said that while the Yes camp resorted to scaremongering, the No camp had facts and arguments. "We urge all clubs to seek informa- tion from their legal representatives and ask them whether their hobby, sporting activity or pastime is in any real danger as the hunters claim." Addressing a press conference out- side the law courts, No camp spokes- man Saviour Balzan said the 11 April referendum was about making Malta a better country, in which families could peacefully enjoy the one thing that comes for free: countryside. "It is shameful that the Yes camp keeps divulging lies: it is not true that other EU member states prac- tise spring hunting; it is not true that minorities are under threat," he said. Balzan pointed out that during the launch of the Yes campaign, the hunters' chiefs "did not have the de- cency to show their faces", instead choosing to send their legal repre- sentative to speak on their behalf. "We are here because we are Mal- tese first and foremost… this has nothing to do with Europe, because it is we Maltese fighting for what is ours," he said. The SHout campaigners said they opted to hold their press conference outside the law courts to serve as a reminder to the hundreds of hunters that were arraigned in court, appre- hended for shooting down protected birds of prey. They said that democracy for hunt- ers meant trying to stop a referen- dum from taking place while jour- nalists had been attacked during a hunting protest. "In an attempt to influence the people's votes, they have resorted to marketing and drama. People howev- er can see past the frills," Balzan said, reiterating his call for real debates on TVM, NET and ONE stations. "We are not politicians chasing votes but Maltese citizens with an opportunity to do what the political parties have repeatedly failed to do, succumbing to the hunters' threats. If the politicians are afraid of the hunters, we are not." Hunters promise 'war' as Yes campaign is officially launched SHout challenge hunters for debates: 'Stop hiding behind fancy facades' COURT NOTICE The Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals notifies that the First Hall of the Civil Court ordered the sale by Judicial Auction of the following property to be held in the corridors of the Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta. Date, Judicial Sale No. and Time Property 10th March, 2015 49/14 – 11.00am JGL Residential property and garage named 'Icona' in Triq il- Qattus, Birkirkara subject to a non revisible annual and perpetual ground rent , of nine Euros and thirty two cents (!9.32), valued at one hundred and fifty thousand Euros (!150,000). Garage named 'Gordon Motor Repair' in Triq in-Nassab, Qormi valued at ninety thousand Euros (!90,000) 26th March, 2015 58/10 – 10.30am EM 1. Seven out of twenty-four (7/24) undivided share of the tenement number fifty-five (55), in Triq i"- #onqor, Marsaskala, granted to third parties by title of lease, otherwise free and unencumbered, which share is valued at twelve thousand euro (!12,000). 2. Seven out of twenty-four (7/24) undivided share of the adjacent tenements number one hundred and forty-four (144), one hundred and forty-five (145) and one hundred and forty-six (146), in Triq San $u"epp, %al Tarxien, which property is free and unencumbered and which share is valued at eighty-five thousand euro (!85,000). Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/sea rch.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card. Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals Saviour Balzan addressing the media on behalf of the No campaign The hunters yesterday launched their Yes campaign PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD