The highly controversial site of the Nola Café has been vandalised with offensive graffiti.

The café was in the news recently as it built an outdoor platform taking over a number of car parking spaces. This move had angered residents.

The site is also home to a branch of RE/MAX Malta.

In a statement, RE/MAX said that "the team at RE/MAX Malta awoke this morning to find that their Balluta office had been targeted by vandals overnight, who sprawled offensive graffiti on its front door."

"Today's incident mirrors a similar attack last week that targeted the real estate company's office in Ta Xbiex. Both offices are independently owned and operated as part of the wider RE/MAX Malta franchise network."

While CCTV was in operation at both properties, the vandals sprayed paint over the cameras to render them useless.

"Vandalism is an act of cowardice," said RE/MAX Malta Chairman Kevin Buttigieg. "This hateful behaviour towards private property can never be acceptable in a civilised society and we unequivocally condemn it."

"As members of the local business community, we denounce this act of hate and encourage others to do the same. We firmly believe that aggression of this kind is never the solution; it is completely unacceptable."

"We would like to thank the many people and businesses who have reached out to offer their support. We will be working with the authorities to find out who did this and bring them to justice," Buttigieg concludes.

The St Julian's local council Mayor, Albert Buttigieg, said on Facebook that while his opinion on the platform is clear, he condemned the vandalism.