Transvestites were also going around in the same area – bare-chested. And since they are biologically male, the police cannot do much about it, even though they appear to be topless females.

Such was the vision conjured up in parliament by doughty Adrian Vassallo, who used graphic descriptions to tell the House about the almost total absence of police in that red-light area, while there were police officers guarding a spoonbill which landed in Malta.

Dr Vassallo was speaking on the Adjournment of the House last week.

His remarks were answered in another Adjournment speech by parliamentary secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who said the remarks were “unfair”, pointing out that police have arrested almost twice as many people for loitering and prostitution this year as they did last year.