News | Sunday, 15 March 2009

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Ghajn Tuffieha barracks barricaded

Matthew Vella
The Government Property Division has had to barricade part of the Ghajn Tuffieha barracks with stone after a third eviction of squatters inside the barracks, as its previous ‘tenants’ evidently showed no sign of wanting to move out.
Parliamentary Secretary for Lands Jason Azzopardi was alerted to the presence of the squatters, whereupon he immediately despatched inspectors. Two squatters were found on site.
An eviction notice was served last week and the barracks were stonewalled.
Despite two earlier evictions, the barracks at Ghajn Tuffieha were evidently still being lived in – cars were parked outside the porches, clothes were hanging on the lines, and dogs roamed about the area.
In October, the government property division served eviction notices on squatters inside 10 structures at the barracks, which gives access to the Majjistral Park at ix-Xaghra l-Hamra.
Accompanied by a heavy escort of police, the division evicted the squatters a week later, also removing furniture and other items from some of the rooms.
One of the squatters had even registered his address inside the barracks, as evidenced by his ID card, even if he had no legal title to the property.
Jason Azzopardi had said eviction action would continue because registering an address on ID cards did not give anybody legal title. “The ID card is no defence in cases of squatting. This is a blatant abuse of the law… it is about time that the Electoral Commission, as the body responsible for issuing ID cards, takes up this issue.”
But the division had to call in the police just days after the eviction, when unknown persons forced open the welded doors to the barracks.

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