A South African couple are claiming they were beaten up by a group of 10 men at a Paceville nightclub on the same night a Korean student was allegedly assaulted by a bouncer just a few doors down the road.
The fight took place outside the club, after the group followed the couple as they were leaving. The 28-year-old man, who insisted on anonymity, said the group first started beating him but then two men turned on his girlfriend when she tried to stop them.
The argument, according to the South African, started when the group started harassing his girlfriend at a gentlemen's club.
"They were telling her to dance on their table... they kept going on about it even after we explained that she wasn't a stripper. But they insisted."
At one point, he spilled the drink of one of them and left. But the group followed the couple outside and allegedly attacked them.
The South African told The Sunday Times that he called the emergency services but was told they could not do anything and that he had to call the nearest police station.
"This happened at around 3 a.m. I had had a few drinks by that time and I couldn't remember the number the phone operator was giving me. I find it unacceptable that the emergency service cannot handle this sort of request," he said.
Last week, The Sunday Times reported claims by a 24-year-old English language student, Shin Gyu Seung, that he was beaten up as he tried to enter a bar.
The student provided medical certificates showing injuries to the back, his knee and two front teeth.
Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco met with the Korean student earlier this week and expressed deep regret that such an incident had occurred. Dr de Marco warned about the effect such incidents could have on the good name of Malta's tourism industry and the way they could tarnish Malta's reputation as a safe and hospitable destination.
The Parliamentary Secretary also expressed his "serious concern over the sweeping and generic nature of the comments made by the security company in question vis-à-vis Asian patrons".
Dr de Marco emphasised the importance of English language schools for tourism, which accounts for over 10 per cent of Malta's overall tourism arrivals, and 13 per cent of bed nights in a year. Paceville is also featured on Youtube - for the wrong reasons. One video, shot in the main avenue, shows two men pushing each other. The incident soon degenerates into a fight involving at least seven men and women.
When contacted, the police said that enough officers were deployed to Paceville every weekend to maintain public order. "Police intervention and court action had been taken whenever incidents contravening public order or any other irregularities had been witnessed or reported to the police," the police said.