Libyans acquitted of disorderly behaviour outside embassy at height of revolution

Three Libyan men were this morning acquitted of a series of charges connected to disorderly behaviour when pro and anti-Gaddafi activists clashed outside the Libyan embassy in Attard.

Mohannid Garzadin 30 of St. Paul's Bay, Ali Bodhir, 36 of Paola and Salaheddin Said, 41 from St. Pual's Bay were arrested for having disobeyed police orders, and formed part of crowd which held an unauthorised protest against the Gaddafi regime.

At the same time, a number of pro-Gaddafi supporters had also gathered outside the embassy and police officers had to separate the two factions in a bid to avoid confrontation.

The pro-Gaddafi supporters were kept close to the embassy, while the dissidents who were concerned for the fate of their families and co-nationals in Libya, were told to stay on the other side of Mdina Road, Attard.

At one point, the anti-Gaddafi demonstrators rushed to the other side of the road, and while scuffles ensued with the police, those who got through started to pray, while also being insulted by the pro-Gaddafi supporters.

The three men were arrested at this time, and according to Magistrate Edwina Grima's judgement, the prosecution failed to produce concrete evidence that the accused were disobedient.

The court added that despite an officer claimed to have been hit by a three-coloured flag, it turned out that no policeman was ever hit or injured during the incident.

Lawyers Giannella de Marco and Gian Luca Caruana Curran appeared for the accused.