The police said that the league victory celebrations in Floriana stopped when officers intervened to disperse the crowd.

On Monday, a large number of Floriana FC supporters took to the Granaries to celebrate Floriana being awarded the BOV Premier League title for the first time in 27 years. Ignoring Coronavirus restrictions which impose a limit of six people in a gathering and social distancing to be maintained, the supporters danced, embraces and chanted together.

Footage from the Granaries showing Floriana supporters celebrating the league win drew outrage from the public, with many lamenting how action to disperse the crowd had not been taken in spite of the fact that the Police’s headquarters is only a few minutes’ walk away.

Asked by The Malta Independent about Monday’s celebrations, a spokesperson for the police replied saying that “the police took action by dispersing the crowd, so much so that celebrations were drawn to a halt. The police are proceeding with further investigations.”

On Tuesday, the Floriana FC secretary general Dione Borg told this newsroom that the celebrations were not organised by the football club and were completely spontaneous.

He explained that when the police felt that there was the need for action, they approached him and he helped coordinate the dispersing of people across the Granaries. Soon after, it got too difficult to control so they stopped the celebrations.

Floriana FC were crowned BOV Premier League champions after a vote in the MFA council confirmed the outcomes of the Maltese football league structure on Monday.

The vote was taken by the Malta Football Association council after the season was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The council ultimately opted to award the championships across the Maltese footballing pyramid on the basis of the league table when the tournament was stopped.

A number of health professionals criticised these celebrations, saying that they are an offence to front liners.

Virologist Chris Barbara described the events as being “very dangerous” for public health, lamenting that authorities will have a tough time carrying out contact tracing if a case results from a person who was at the gathering.