Government suspends Monti consultation as dispute goes to court - 'interlocutor' actually represents the hawkers

The Civil Court will decide in the coming weeks whether or not to intervene in plans to relocate Monti stalls to the top of Merchant Street. During a sitting held to consider Merchants' Street shop owners' requests for an injunction to stop the move, Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mckeon said today that he would not exclude taking the full 30-day window to decide. The Merchant Street Business Community Association filed an application for the injunction last week and today's court proceedings saw some two dozen business owners shuffle into the court room along with GRTU head Paul Abela. Taking the witness stand, Economy Ministry consultant Alex Farrugia insisted no decision had yet been taken on where to relocate the stalls. He said discussions were expected to stretch into the first quarter of 2016 by which point all stakeholders would have been consulted. Mr Farrugia would not confirm whether the move would go ahead as it was "too early to say" and he would not disclose any other streets which could host the Monti instead.  Mr Farrugia said the government was using an "interlocutor" named Joe Zrinzo to hold consultations on the Monti move. Mr Zrinzo, however, had never met with any...