Two refugees were accused yesterday of assaulting and injuring two police officers who went to wake them up after they fell asleep on a bus on their way to work on Tuesday evening.

The refugees are Habtom Tesema Berhea, 25, from Eritrea and Omar Osman Omar, 26, from Somalia. Both men live in Valletta.

Police inspectors Martin Sammut and Carmelo Abdilla explained that they had been informed that two men were asleep on a stationary public bus. The officers went to the scene and woke the two men up. While they were on their way to St Julian’s police station, the men allegedly caused havoc, assaulting the police officers and slightly injuring them. They were also charged with disobeying police orders, breaching the peace and damaging a police uniform and a radio. Both men were also accused of relapsing.

Before magistrate Lawrence Quintano, the accused, who were not assisted by any lawyers, said they had been tired and had been on their way to the hotel where they work as dishwashers. They had meant to leave the bus in Sliema but had fallen asleep and been woken up by the police. The two men were denied bail and remanded in custody.

Police inspectors Martin Sammut and Carmelo Abdilla prosecuted.