MALTESE PROTEST AGAINST DESTRUCTION OF NEOLITHIC TEMPLES, 2001-04-20 (photo)

The President of Malta Professor Guido de Marco waves from the balcony of the President's Palace to demonstrators who gathered to express outrage at last week's destruction of Mnajdra Neolithic Temples during a protest in Valletta on April 20, 2001. Vandals struck on the night of April 13, dislodging and severly damaging at least 60 megaliths in the 5000 year old UNESCO World Heritage site. The motive behind the vandalism, which many described as worse than the recent Taliban bombing of the centuries old Buddha in a mountainside in Afghanistan, is still unclear at this stage. DZL/WS