Fear is growing that street gang rivalry is on the rise in Paceville, bringing with it a number of planned fights and subsequent injuries.

Malta’s night-time Mecca has often had to deal with a number of fights which occur in the area. Youths get drunk and are more likely to start off arguments for no obvious reason.

While some of these are likely to be alcohol-induced and spontaneous, there is a worry that an increasing number of fights are being pre-organised with the sole aim of creating direct confrontations during the weekends.

Gangs of Maltese youths and Russian youths reportedly clashed on the night between the 19 and 20 of October, causing several injuries, some of which were of a serious nature. However all this was recounted by young people who frequent the area and nothing was officially reported through the media, indicating that no official report was lodged in.

Street gangs are loosely organised groups of people who interact together to the exclusion of those not belonging to the gang. The primary age-group for gang members is normally between 14 – 20. Youngsters may be attracted to the gangster-style culture because they feel that by belonging to a gang they will be protected and respected more. While belonging to a gang means having more friends, it will automatically also mean having more enemies from rival gangs.

Strangely enough nobody could give an official reply regarding the matter, and one wonders what such a lack of reportage could indicate. Could it mean that such events are taken too lightly and not considered worthy of reporting or that they are so common that to report them would be no big deal?