“I was walking along with my daughter when a bottle of water was thrown from a balcony and almost hit my daughter in the head. It would have killed her but it bounced off about a metre away from her…”
This experience was told to us last week by a Sliema resident who happens to live next to a hotel which puts up foreign language students. Complaints such as these, often attributable the behaviour of foreign students, are commonplace in towns and villages which become student invasion hotspots in summer. Apart from anti-social and dangerous behaviour, residents of such areas also have to put up with noise, litter and all sorts of vulgar behaviour.
But what can be done about the situation? According to the concerned citizen whose daughter was narrowly missed by a potentially lethal water bottle, the answer seems to be: very little.
This concerned parent contacted the local council only to be told that nothing could be done about the situation. They were advised to forward the report to the police. The resident then contacted the police, only to be told that they could not do anything about it either.
This week, another Sliema resident contacted the paper because students sojourning at a hotel on his street were creating a noisy disturbance and dangerously littering the streets from their balconies. “These students are freely being allowed to come and stay in our country and hotels with warm welcomes all around. We are repaid with having our streets littered, being deprived of sleep and practically having our country destroyed,” the resident complained… although to be fair it is hardly likely that all forms litter can be blamed on foreign students.
But the question remains: are these students somehow outside the law?
When contacted by this newspaper, the Sliema local council said, “Nothing much can be done about it by the council, but we have passed on all reports to the police. The police should be checking the areas regularly but we will be contacting them again.”
The possibility of enlisting local wardens was also suggested, but Mayor Marina Arrigo said, “Unfortunately, it is not possible for wardens to be expected to patrol the streets for two reasons: firstly, they are responsible for traffic, and traffic alone. Secondly these incidents occur mainly in the evenings. It is the police who should be patrolling the streets every so often to make sure they do not happen again.”
Questions sent to the CMRU as to whether anything is being attempted to stop these incidents from occurring have remained unanswered.
Another suggestion, of course, would be to provide umbrellas or protective helmets to pedestrians…

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/midweek/2007/08/22/t9.html