No one has applied for a permit to hold a protest during the Pope's visit this weekend, despite claims that security has been stepped up amid fears of organised disturbances.

The police confirmed they had received no applications for a protest permit as yet. But this will not kill suspicions that spontaneous demonstrations could occur, in light of increasing allegations involving paedophile priests.

A Facebook group entitled No To Pope Benedict XVI In Malta has more than 1,000 members but, so far, there have only been feeble attempts to organise them into some sort of protest.

Some have suggested holding a publicised group excommunication and others have said they would try to hold an activity at the airport.

However, the most likely action so far seems to be that of not showing up at the activities.

The fears stem from the highly-publicised vandalism on billboards promoting the Pope's visit, which saw the Pontiff being given a Hitler-moustache and flanked by Pedobear - an internet symbol of paedophilia.

Every police officer would be involved in this weekend's operations in some way or another, the police said, in what is being considered one of the biggest security operations this country has seen.