Bouncers employed to keep order inside Paceville clubs are policing the streets as well but they just cannot continue doing that, according to the owner of several nightclubs at the entertainment centre.

Jonathan Grima, the owner and operator of many of Paceville’s clubs, told Times of Malta when contacted that the locality needed more than the “four or five extra police officers” that have been detailed.

“We’ve seen an improvement because whereas, before, there were none at least now we have four or five extra officers,” he said.

“But that’s not enough. We need a proper squad of police officers who are crowd controllers. Paceville cannot continue being policed by our bouncers whom we employ to ensure order inside the clubs.”

He said most of the fights that have broken out over the last few weeks would have been controlled if such officers were stationed in Paceville.

Comeback of the troublemakers

He was contacted for comments following the apparent upsurge of violence in the Paceville entertainment hub in St Julian’s over the past few weeks.

Times of Malta reported yesterday that just over 400 fights resulting in injuries were reported in St Julian’s over the past four-and-a-half years. There were 28 such fights reported until May, the last month for which figures are available.

The latest incident, not included in the figures, was a brawl last weekend that involved bouncers and a group of men.

They stay there and see how they’re going to cause trouble- Jonathan Grima, club owner

Among other incidents that made the headlines were three injuries reported from two separate fights a week earlier and, in May, a man attacked restaurant patrons with a knife and glass bottle.

A police spokesman said: “Although there was a spate of fights in Paceville in recent weeks, they do not follow a pattern. Recent fights were isolated occurrences motivated by instantaneous incidents where perpetrators had no relationship with their victims.”

This was corroborated by Grima who said that club owners in Paceville were seeing an increase in people outside their clubs who were previously labelled as “troublemakers” by the bouncers.

Police need training in crowd control

“If you have a couple of guys who cause trouble every time they come to the club, the bouncers get used to that person and they get classified as troublemakers,” he said.

“We were closed for a long time but we’re seeing their comeback in the eight weeks we’ve been open after the COVID-19 closures.”

Grima said it was these people who were causing trouble in Paceville in recent weeks.

“You’d see some waiting in queues to enter clubs, knowing that they won’t be allowed in. But they stay there and see how they’re going to cause trouble either with patrons queuing or the bouncers. This is what happened last Saturday,” he said.

Grima acknowledged that the number of police officers deployed to Paceville had been increased in recent weeks but insisted that what Paceville needed “sooner rather than later” was a dedicated squad of people who are trained in crowd control. 

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced earlier this week that this special squad will be operational “soon”.

There have long been calls for this special squad to be established for Paceville, with St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg and Philip Fenech, who once owned the popular BJ’s jazz bar and is now chairman of the Town Centre Management of Paceville both recently making strong appeals for action along these lines.

Fenech said fights were bound to break out in a crowded place like Paceville and no amount of police officers would prevent isolated incidents from occurring. No amount of police in Paceville will prevent the odd fight from breaking out, he believes.

But Grima said that most of the fights which had taken place over the past few weeks were caused by the troublemakers who could have been easily controlled if properly trained police officers had been outside the clubs.