Watch: Brawl breaks out in Sliema after boat trip ends

A brawl broke out between a crowd of young people on Sliema seafront on Sunday night, in what residents say is the latest incident in a saga of antisocial and dangerous late-night behaviour following boat trips returning to the area.

Footage of the fight, which spilt onto the other side of the road, shows young men punching and kicking each other as other youths surround the brawl, looking on. One clip shows a young man being held in a headlock against a car bonnet.

A young man is sent tumbling to the floor after being punched in the side of his head, before being kicked while lying on the pavement. A small group can be seen attending to the young man, unsuccessfully attempting to help him return to his feet.

At one point, a group of young men block traffic on the main road, Triq Ix-Xatt, while appearing to be engaged in a heated conversation, while others run haphazardly across the busy road as cars beep their horns and are forced to cautiously slow down to avoid hitting the youngsters.

Residents said the youths had disembarked from a commercial vessel after a boat trip. The video shows young people getting off a boat lit up in blue as others fight on the pavement.

In an email to local and national authorities, seen by Times of Malta, the resident who filmed the incident stressed that the “nightly scenes of drunken hooligans being disgorged from the nighttime booze cruises are not acceptable”.

“Sooner or later there will be an accident - whether on the road by these drunken hooligans being hit by a drunken or drugged driver; or by a fight where multiple people are badly injured or killed; or by drowning if they jump into the sea”, the resident, who asked not to be named, wrote.

He called for boat operators to hire security and authorities to deploy police officers and CCTV in the area.

A man was seen stripped naked a few days ago in the same area, while another man appears intoxicated on a nearby bench.

“This is not rocket science, and it has been an ongoing issue where residents suffer while these drunken hooligans take over our locality every night”, he wrote. “I am surprised and very disappointed that no action has been taken to stop this. I am sincerely hoping that fast action will be taken this time.”

The letter was addressed to a raft of authorities including Home Affairs Minister Glenn Bedingfield.

Fellow Sliema resident and long-time campaigner for the area, Anna Maria Baldacchino, told Times of Malta such incidents were “not unusual” following boat outings.

“They hype them [youngsters] up, then just throw them back onto the land; there’s no accountability,” she said of the boat trip operators.

Is the quality of life we were promised?- Sliema resident Anna Maria Baldacchino

Describing the youngsters returning from boat trips as “out of control”, Baldacchino showed Times of Malta photos taken by one resident of a man stripped naked in the same area a few days ago following a boat trip.

Baldacchino said that residents’ complaints to authorities were being ignored. “When we call community police, they say they finish at 11pm, and when we call the police station, they say they don’t have enough officers to send,” she said.

“Is this the quality of life we were promised? It’s disgusting,” she said.

Questions have been sent to the police.