PN calls for more resources to tackle disorder in Swieqi
Opposition says police and local councils need greater support as residents face noise, vandalism and anti-social behaviour
The Nationalist Party has called on the government to provide the Police and local councils with the resources needed to protect residents in the wake of repeated disturbances in localities such as Swieqi.
In a statement on Tuesday, the PN said what was happening in Swieqi and other areas across Malta “can no longer be accepted as part of everyday life”.
“Residents are being forced to live with constant noise, vandalism, a lack of public order, a frustrating waste situation and the fear that all of this will continue to get worse rather than be resolved,” the PN said.
The comments come a day after a video emerged of tourists throwing bottles in the streets from an apartment block in Swieqi. Police fined 12 young people and the Malta Tourism Authority shut down the holiday accommodation after the disorder.
This was only the latest in a string of disturbances in the area and other similar incidents in other towns.
“Sleep deprivation, late-night noise, acts of vandalism and a growing sense of insecurity are having a serious impact on people’s lives,” the Shadow Ministr for Home Affairs Conrad Borg Manché and Local Government Shadow Minister Bernice Bonello said in a joint statement.
They urged concrete action should be taken “immediately”, adding the government “cannot expect police officers and local councils to solve these problems, which are often the result of the Government’s own political decisions, while leaving them without sufficient resources, personnel and enforcement tools.”
The PN insisted that “communities cannot continue to be left alone to face a situation that has been steadily deteriorating”.