Two hawkers, a father and son, were granted bail after they were charged in court following a violent scuffle with two plainclothes police officers at the Marsaxlokk market on Sunday.

Egyptian Fouad Tayel, 58, and his 18-year-old son Omar Fouad Tayel, who live in Żejtun, were manning their stall when the officers parked their vehicle in slot nearby.

An argument broke out between the hawkers and the officers despite one of them, a policewoman, telling the Egyptian pair in fluent Arabic that they were members of the police corps.

One of the accused seized a clothes hanger and assaulted the policewoman, who suffered slight injuries and needed to be treated in hospital.

The other officer, a male constable, intervened when the argument turned nasty.

The men were charged with threatening, assaulting and slightly injuring the public officers. They were also charged with having refused to obey lawful orders and supply their personal details to the police. The son alone was charged with having damaged third party property.

The two men pleaded not guilty and requested bail. This was strongly objected to by the prosecution, who argued that such behaviour was especially egregious because the targeted victims were representatives of the law.

The defence argued that in this case there were no civilian witnesses to be summoned and the prosecution had brought no evidence of any fear that the accused might abscond.

The court upheld the request, granting both father and son bail against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €5,000 each. The two must sign the bail book three times a week and are to observe a curfew between 11.30pm and 5.30am.

Inspector Johann J Fenech prosecuted. Lawyer Martha Mifsud was defence counsel.

The case was heard by Magistrate Josette Demicoli.