The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association yesterday called on the authorities to get their act together in sorting out the issue of doormen (not bodyguards, not is-security) who are in clear, blatant violation of law and common sense.
The statement was issued in the wake of two Italian men being beaten to a pulp in St Julian’s last week. We will not go into the merits of the case, but we will state fact – the men who were on the door to a club beat the living daylights out of two Italian blokes and they did not have the necessary licence to act as bouncers.
It is quite clear that this is the norm, rather than the exception and the MHRA said that in employing untrained and unlicensed bouncers, nightclub owners and directly tarnishing Malta’s good reputation as a tourist spot.
The MHRA is 100 per cent correct in what it was saying. Let us give a twist to the story. Last year, there was uproar in Malta after a bouncer hit and killed a young-Maltese Australian in Greece. There was another outburst when the bouncer in question decided to appeal.
It is indeed odd to see that the general public expressed outrage and bayed for blood in an incident outside our shores, when it happens on a regular basis in our own back yard.
Every year, the same stories resurface, bouncers (unclicensed) beat seven bells of hell out of someone at a club for causing a ‘disturbance’. People have died. We are not talking one or two either and these cases go back 10 years and more.
The current state of affairs is untenable. Bouncers and doormen are more often than not police officers, AFM personnel or gorillas who are trained in martial arts and are employed simply for their brute strength and brutality.
The questions must be asked. Do these people have the necessary skills and training (and we do not mean the ability to put out someone flat on their back) to manage the situations that arise when people consume alcohol at bars and clubs?
It is quite clear that they do not. Otherwise we would not be hearing about people who get their face mashed to a pulp and have to be taken to hospital for emergency treatment. No. If these people were trained and accountable, people would just be turned subdued, escorted out and nothing more would be heard.
One wonders just what the modus operandi must be. We have heard time and time again how brutes from different clubs will all dive-in and gang up on a couple of people that might have caused a disturbance. It is barbaric, it is in clear violation of the law and the law enforcement agencies really must do something about it.
It literally seems to be that if the case is not too bad – it is accepted and it is only when very serious injuries are inflicted that these people are taken to court. You do not have to be an expert to know this.
These ‘people’ act as lord and masters of the little hole they stand guard over and woes betide anyone who they do not like the look of. People have been set upon and beaten simply for stumbling – even if they have not been drunk.
It is also as if they have a ranking system for the beating they dish out. If you are Maltese, you will get slapped about so you remember it. If you are white but foreign, you are beaten to within an inch of your life. But if you are black – you can even expect death. It has happened more than once. These people think they are above the law. They lust for blood once it is drawn and it turns into a frenzy. Wake up now, before it is too late.