Teen gangs are visiting Valletta on weekends to fight and destroy property, forcing at least two businesses to hire security to tackle the problem.
“They run around, take stuff from tables and try to get a rise out of people,” said one worker from a café opposite the parliament building.
“They want to start fights but we will not start fights. Instead we call security or the police,” another worker from the capital’s Burger King outlet said.
Large groups of teens starting fights in the city have become a growing problem.
A series of videos showing teens beating each other in Valletta were recently shared on social media. One video showed a girl being kicked and punched by other girls near Hastings Garden while another showed a gang of boys fighting while screams are heard in the background.
They want to start fights but we will not start fights- Valletta worker
These are not isolated problems but regular occurrences, shop workers told Times of Malta, as large groups of “rude” teens loiter around the city entrance every weekend.
“They come in here every Saturday and throw things around,” a Burger King worker said.
With several outlets across the island, Burger King Valletta is close to the entrance of the city, opposite parliament.
“Last Saturday, someone came behind the counter, came into our kitchen and started shouting at staff,” they said, prompting security to kick them out.
“We have a security guard every Saturday simply because of these groups of teens,” they said.
‘We try to stop them but they ignore us’
The problem has persisted for at least a year, the worker said, recalling a time when he kicked out a group of roughly five teens – boys and girls – after they destroyed some chairs and a table.
“They waited for me outside the restaurant on two Saturday nights,” the worker said, prompting the worker to call the police. Yet, once the police arrived, the group dispersed and ran off to another spot within Valletta, they said.
A worker from L’Accademia Café, in Valletta, also opposite parliament, explained that between 40 and 50 teens regularly group together on Saturday evenings, hassling customers and causing commotion.
“They stand on tables and steal chairs. Sometimes, they fight over there,” the employee said, pointing at a space in front of parliament.
“We try to stop them but they either ignore us or they're rude to us,” they said.
“Sometimes, we even had to hire security,” they said, as festive seasons see more rowdy teens come to the city.
With Christmas around the corner, L’Accademia workers are worried about the surge of teens who will come to Valletta, as school holidays will give adolescents more free time to gather.
‘I was almost unrecognisable’
There have been sporadic cases of people being seriously injured after being attacked by teen gangs.
In January, a 15-year-old boy was hospitalised with a broken leg after he and his friends were attacked by a group of older teens in Valletta.
A 30-year-old woman also came forward about an incident in December when she was punched, kicked and had her hair ripped out by a gang of young teens.
Speaking to Times of Malta, one 17-year-old shared his personal experience with one of these groups that left him hospitalised in October 2022.
“These people tracked me down and followed me home,” he said.
He described walking home from a friend’s house in October last year when he noticed a large group of roughly 16 teens following him.
“’We just want to talk,’” he recalled them telling him, asking him to come to a corner to have a chat.
They walked the 17-year-old to a nearby restaurant where the incident turned violent.
“It ended up with 16 people pushing me up against a wall and beating me,” he said. “All I was thinking was ‘I just want to go home and forget this ever happened’.”
Passers-by tried to intervene but the group told them to keep walking, he said.
Bloody and bruised, the teenager walked to the Valletta police station where officers took him back to the spot of the beating.
“No one was there, they had all scattered and gone elsewhere.”