Paceville bar owners agree on more surveillance for 'anti-social youths'

Additional reporting by Rachel Zammit Cutajar

GRTU official Philip Fenech said anti-social behaviour in Paceville needed better surveillance, saying youths who turned to abuse when not being kept under surveillance were at the root of recent violent incidents in the entertainment area.

The spokesperson for pressure group GASP (Group Acting for a Safer Paceville), lawyer Anthony Farrugia, met Fenech today where the two sides held talks with Paceville bar owners.

Farrugia said Paceville establishments are supporting their initiative for better security in the entertainment area. “Bar owners are supporting our initiative in which we are calling for better security on the streets of Paceville. A safer environment creates an atmosphere where young people want to go out and have fun and is better for business.”

Farrugia said bar owners were not satisfied with police response to disturbances and will be collaborating with GASP to put pressure on the authorities to increase security in the area making it a safer place for youngsters and bar employees.

Farrugia set up the pressure group to confront “lawlessness in Paceville” after his son was attacked by six thugs on June 20.

Philip Fenech, the GRTU’s deputy president for hospitality and leisure, said the meeting with Farrugia and the Paceville establishment owners was “friendly and detailed”.

“We found grounds for agreement on what practical action to recommend to government to take, to meet the real challenge,” he told MaltaToday.

“The worst thing that can happen is that panicky decisions are taken just to impress the public, rather than taking remedial action which is well planned and directed towards real and not perceived problems.”

Fenech warned against statements that created a negative picture of the Paceville area. Yesterday, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said Paceville’s gentlemen’s clubs and bottle shops had to be regulated further to create order in the entertainment zone.

“This is an area with heavy investment that plays a pivotal role in Malta’s new tourism strategy. The action that needs to be taken should emphasise more supervisory and surveillance methods, regularly and constantly applied rather than sporadic one-time actions that achieve very little,” Fenech said.

The GRTU official and bar owner said Paceville’s problem laid in the “growing number of young people” who broke the rules and turned to abuse when not under constant surveillance.

“We need to adopt measures of surveillance that were proved successful elsewhere, as the phenomena of youth anti-social behaviour is not one of Paceville only,” Fenech said.

Both GRTU and GASP said they are determined to seek all advice and strive determinately to seek practical solutions to ensure the safety of people in Paceville.