How much further does antisocial behaviour have to go before residents feel that something is genuinely being done?
In the early hours of the morning, bottles were reportedly thrown from a fifth-floor balcony at Saint Ignatius Junction in Sliema, smashing the rear window of a parked car and leaving shattered glass scattered across the road and into a neighbouring front garden.
Thankfully, the reports do not indicate that anyone was injured. But that should not distract from how serious this incident could have been.
A glass bottle thrown from a fifth-floor balcony is not simply “rowdy behaviour”. Someone walking underneath, a resident returning home, a delivery worker, or anyone passing through the street could have been seriously injured.
The resident who reported the incident also spoke about feeling increasingly uneasy in her own neighbourhood and raised concerns about the growth of short-let accommodation and the type of antisocial behaviour residents are increasingly having to deal with.
And this is not happening in isolation.
Residents across Sliema, St Julian’s, Paceville and Swieqi have recently reported incidents involving littering, property damage, drunken behaviour and objects being thrown from balconies.
Residents should not have to accept this as normal.
Malta Gone Wild has repeatedly highlighted the same underlying problem: when antisocial behaviour is allowed to continue with little visible deterrence, it is residents who are left dealing with the consequences.
Broken glass in the street.
Damaged property.
Noise in the middle of the night.
Rubbish dumped outside homes.
Residents wondering who is actually staying in neighbouring properties from one week to the next.
Recent increases in fines may be a step in the right direction, but enforcement has to be visible, consistent and strong enough to act as a genuine deterrent.
Tourism and short-let accommodation form an important part of Malta’s economy, but that cannot mean residential neighbourhoods become places where almost anything is tolerated.
Visitors are welcome.
Dangerous and antisocial behaviour is not.
Source: Times of Malta