Last-ditch effort to clear Comino of deckchairs and umbrellas

The deckchairs and umbrellas that have hogged Comino’s Blue Lagoon throughout summer will soon be gone, but this has not stopped people from petitioning parliament in a last-ditch attempt to enforce their removal anyway.
The petition, which asks the House of Representatives for “the removal of sun beds and deckchairs from Comino”, closed some days ago, gathering over 600 signatures.
It follows the public outrage provoked last month by a Times of Malta video that showed how empty deckchairs covered the Blue Lagoon area, leaving people with no spot to lay their towel. 
The footage of what is meant to be an idyllic tourist attraction went viral, reaching 4.7 million viewers and seen in the UK, Malta’s biggest tourist market, four times more than in Malta itself.

The story generated thousands of comments on the newspaper’s Facebook page alone, with the vast majority being critical of the situation, and was also picked up by foreign media.
But nothing was done about the beach operators, who take over the Natura 2000 site before anyone arrives, forcing those who do not want to hire umbrellas and deckchairs away from the shoreline even if they arrive first thing in the morning.
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