Swieqi council is demanding more action, especially by the police, after 27 cars were damaged in two separate vandal acts over the Easter weekend.

A black line was sprayed on some of the vehicles and others had their mirrors smashed.

The ‘paintwork’ damage was done on Friday when more than 20 cars were sprayed from back to front. On Sunday, seven vehicles had their mirrors smashed.

The vandalism took place in Is-Swieqi, Il-Molletta and L-Ilma streets, the three roads closest to Paceville, the entertainment mecca.

The local council, which only took office on Monday, has set up a working committee to liaise between Swieqi residents and the police.

Despite several attempts in the past, residents continue to be the vic-tims of vandalism or disturbance “on a weekly basis”. The council called on the Government and the police to safeguard residents’ property in view of what it described as a “constant lack of public order and security”.

“In summer, the number of in-cidents increases, especially due to the amount of foreign students fre-quenting the area.

The general response by the police has been that the St Julian’s station is understaffed and it has not been possible for the locality to be properly protected,” the council said.

The council said it has been lobbying for Swieqi – which includes Tal-Ibraġ and Madliena – to have its own police station.

It said that, with all political parties in favour and even the police giving their seal of approval, it now hoped the electoral pledge by Labour to open a police station in Swieqi would be implemented as soon as possible. In the meantime, the locality should be properly patrolled by the police.

The council said it was committed to tackle security and public order in Swieqi but lamented it had no power to enforce the law.