Police operation to forcibly remove Graffitti activists was ‘disjointed’

An investigation has concluded that a police operation to forcibly remove protestors from a Planning Authority board meeting last September was “disjointed”.

However, the Independent Police Complaints Board could not pinpoint individual police officers who may have manhandled the Graffitti protestors because none could be identified.

The activists had stormed a PA meeting that was going to discuss a petrol station application. They had been kept out of the boardroom but the activists occupied the outside room and disrupted the meeting with drums and chants.

Moviment Graffitti and KEA protest absence of fuel policy review

They had refused invitations to take part in the meeting, after which the PA asked the police to evict the demonstrators.

The investigative board noted that while the protestors had put up peaceful resistance to stop the police from evicting them, some had “actively resisted” the police.

Three particular incidents of excessive force were identified, including an instance when a snare drum was thrown at one of the female activists, hitting her on the head after she had been removed from the building.

After hearing submissions from the activists, police officers and after reviewing footage of the incident, the board concluded that the snare drum incident was not caused by a police officer but by one of the security officers employed by the PA.

The complaints board, however, found an instance of excessive force when a protestor was dragged out and pinned down to the floor by a police officer using his knee.

However, the board could not reprimand any police officer because none could be identified by the activists who testified.

The board wrapped the police for the “disjointed” operation to evict the PA office, adding it was ill-planned.
The board concluded its investigation on 5 February 2019 but the report with redacted names was only published today in Parliament by Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia. He tabled the report in response to a question by PN MP Karol Aquilina.