Twelve people were fined a total of approximately €2,000, paid on the spot, after police shut down a noisy gathering in a Swieqi apartment block, in an operation that also saw the Malta Tourism Authority close the entire building over licensing breaches.
The gathering first came to public attention on Monday morning after being reported on by The Malta Independent.
In a statement, Police said they received a report on the evening of the incident regarding a group causing excessive noise in an apartment block on Triq Cannataci, Swieqi.
Officers arrived at the scene promptly, put a stop to the noise, and took the necessary legal action. The twelve individuals were found liable for contraventions relating to disturbing the peace and good order, as well as illegal waste disposal, and were issued administrative fines on-site.
Inspections carried out at the same time by the MTA found that eight of the nine apartments in the block were operating in breach of their licence conditions.
Tourists staying in the affected apartments were asked to leave and were relocated to alternative accommodation, while the operator itself was also found to be in breach of applicable regulatory conditions.
The MTA subsequently issued an Enforcement Notice ordering the immediate cessation of operations for the entire block, which has now been completely closed pending the operator's compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements.
Announcing the action, Minister for Home Affairs and Security Glenn Bedingfield said: "We must take a firm stand against those who do not respect public peace. The Police took timely action, and we intend to continue doing so."
He added that "the rules apply to everyone" and that respect for the community and the law is "non-negotiable."
Police said that over the weekend they issued a total of 17 on-the-spot fines for various infractions, describing it as part of ongoing efforts, in collaboration with other entities, to maintain public order, enforce the law, and ensure operators adhere to their regulatory obligations.
On-the-spot fines had been promised by government as part of stricter enforcement measures due on 1 June, but this newsroom previously reported that, as at the start of July, no such fines had been issued, with residents openly questioning who would even be responsible for enforcing them given the apparent lack of clarity between the ministries involved. This weekend's action marks the clearest evidence yet that the power is now being used.
It follows weeks of mounting pressure from Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat, who has repeatedly warned that the locality's problems have escalated sharply over the past year, driven largely by unchecked short-let accommodation. Muscat had told this newsroom he felt "helpless" to control the situation given the limits of the council's own powers, and, in a letter to the Prime Minister sent after a clip circulated showing tourists throwing bottles from short-let rooftops, said residents had been reporting the same problems "for ten years," insisting that "enough is enough."