ADPD Marsaskala election candidate threatened over chairs and tables campaign

ADPD’s candidate for the Marsaskala local election, Brian Decelis, was threatened by a restaurateur on Wednesday while walking along the locality’s promenade.

In a Facebook post, Decelis said he was approached by a person and verbally threatened while walking on the pavement where several restaurants have tables and chairs.

The threats concern ADPD’s participation in a Graffitti-led campaign to reclaim public streets and pavements from abusive occupation by restaurant tables and chairs. The campaign involves affixing stickers in public areas emphasising that pavements belong to the people.

Decelis said the man, who refused to identify himself, told him: ‘If you fix another sticker on our properties, you will have problems. Here in Wied il-Għajn everyone knows who you are; everyone knows where you live… and if you affix one more sticker on our properties, you will have trouble.’

Contacted by MaltaToday, Decelis said he filed a police report and the man was identified and will be spoken to by the police on Thursday.

The man who made the threats is understood to be an owner of one of the more prominent establishments along the Marsaskala promenade.

“On Wednesday I was walking along the pavement when this man came up to me out of the blue. I was not affixing stickers at the time. The incident is depressing because it shows how some people believe they can bully everyone else into submission,” he said.

The ADPD candidate added no threat will stop him from working for the benefit of residents if he is elected councillor on 8 June.

Decelis is not new to such abuse. In fact, on Facebook he posted a photo of himself from the 1990s when as a young Alternattiva Demokratika candidate he had been elected to the Fgura local council and unknown individuals daubed paint on the front door of his parents’ house.

“Like I had done in Fgura, I am ready to work with all those of good will to ensure social justice in all its forms is done in Marsaskala,” Decelis wrote on his FB wall.