Civil society group Repubblika have gone to the courts to get access to Malta's parliament.

In a judicial protest filed on Thursday, the group said speaker Anġlu Farrugia and the clerk of the house Ray Scicluna are abusing of their power by not allowing members of the public into the parliament house to view proceedings.

The group has repeatedly requested access to the strangers’ gallery, which is meant to be open to any member of the public that wants to watch parliamentary sittings from within the chamber.

Parliament also offers an online streaming service and has a free television channel that airs sittings.   

Speaker Farrugia has argued that due to the pandemic it is not safe to allow members of the public into the viewing area that sits above the parliamentary chamber.  

The judicial protest says this is a “weak excuse” and goes against the standing orders which govern parliamentary procedure. 

It also constitutes a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, the group is arguing. 

Refused access 

The NGO’s members tried to gain access to the House on Friday to watch an urgent debate that was held to discuss the findings of a public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

The inquiry found that the state should shoulder responsibility for her death.  

Police turned the group away as they tried to enter. 

Speaking outside parliament, Repubblika activist and journalist Manuel Delia said the strangers’ gallery is a symbol of an open democracy but instead, the parliament house has been turned into a sealed fortress. 

“If the state truly wants to start a national healing process, then this is a very bad way to start,” he said. 

Since the inquiry report was published on Thursday, police have reintroduced metal barricades that had been wrapped around the parliament building to contain protestors during almost daily gatherings in 2019. 

PN leader Bernard Grech has backed the campaigners, accusing the government of using the COVID-19 pandemic as  "an excuse to be a dictatorial regime."

He also suggested that not only should access to the Strangers Gallery be allowed, but it should also be remaned the People's Gallery.

"The Government must show tangibly, and not only through empty words, that it has learnt its lessons from yesterday’s inquiry," he said. "By treating activists like criminals, it shows it has learnt nothing."