The Labour Party’s spokesman for security, Michael Falzon, yesterday bemoaned the lack of police presence in St Julian’s, Swieqi, Pembroke and Paceville, and urged the police to be proactive, rather than reactive, to maintain public order and peace in these four localities.

“It is well known that whenever the police force wants to punish one of its members, they station him or her on duty in one of these four localities or in Ħamrun, since they are two of the toughest districts to control.

“It shouldn’t be like this. Police who are stationed here have to be motivated rather than view their shift as a form of punishment. Moreover, they need to be given specialised training to deal with the crimes they are expected to encounter.

“Residents and those who live here are desperate for a stronger outdoor police presence. It is a matter of identifying the problem and addressing it, rather than sweeping it under the carpet,” Dr Falzon said while speaking in Swieqi.

His comments came in the wake of another fight which led to an attack on a teenager in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The police said that at around 1am in Triq San Ġorġ, an 18-year-old man from Sliema was hit by a sharp and pointed instrument following an argument he had with a group of teenagers.

The victim was taken to Mater Dei where he was found to be in a critical condition. However, his condition improved later and he is no longer in danger.

While an inquiry is being held, the police said they are holding a 16-year-old man from Mosta and an 18-year-old man from Għargħur for further investigations.

Asked how many police members are on duty every night in Paceville and its surrounding areas, Dr Falzon said that the numbers are not always the same, although there is more police presence during weekends than weekdays.

“However, I recently was told by a reliable source that a few weeks ago, there was only one policewoman was on duty at night-time. Very often the police tend to focus their overstretched resources on Paceville and neglect the overspill of disorder and vandalism that regularly takes place in Pembroke and Swieqi,” Dr Falzon said.

Shadow education minister Evarist Bartolo, who lives in Swieqi, urged the government to come up with a holistic plan on how best to tackle the problem.

He said that although the perception is widespread that most of the problems are caused by foreign youngsters in Malta to learn English, English language schools have been urging the government for a number or years to increase its police presence in and around the Paceville area.

“It is unacceptable that people are being woken up at 3am by people who think the area has become a free-for-all. With the technology available today, it is easier to maintain public order and peace than it was before,” he said.

Mr Bartolo was also critical of Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, who recently defended the force and insisted that police presence around the Paceville area was always stepped up ahead of summer and said that it is important to strike a balance so as not to become a police state.

“Dr Mifsud Bonnici is not admitting that there is problem. There is a difference between what goes on in Iran and what goes on in Ibiza, and we must aim to reach a balance in between these two extremes.

“Moreover, the reason why some front gardens have become public conveniences is because there is only one public convenience in Paceville which considering the high number of people who congregate there every night, is not enough.

“A few days ago, a resident called the police to complain of vandals in her road making a lot of noise. The police replied that they cannot come since they’ve ran out of fuel in their car,” Mr Bartolo said.