The Police force fined around 150 people over the weekend in connection with three separate incidents of illegal mass public gatherings in Pembroke and Mellieha.

In a statement, the police said that there were three separate incidents – including one where a police officer was attacked by someone – of people breaching Covid restrictions on public gathering and mask-wearing.

In the first, police were told of a group of people drinking at a secluded place in a Natura 2000 site in Pembroke at around 3am on Saturday.

Police went on site and found a big group of youths who, as soon as they saw the police, tried to escape from the site.

Around 80 fines were issued in relation to breaches of mask-wearing laws and breaches of public gathering laws.

A separate case at 2am on Sunday morning saw police go to the same site in Pembroke, where – once again – a crowd of people was gathered drinking on the rocks.

35 people were fined for the same aforementioned reasons.

While this was ongoing, an 18-year-old Frenchman became aggressive towards one of the officers, tearing his shirt and then escaping from the site.  A search was mounted and the teenager was arrested soon after.

He is being held at the police’s lock-up and is likely to be charged in the coming days.  The policeman meanwhile received care at a health centre, and was certified as suffering from light injuries.

In a third incident over the weekend, Qawra district police had to break up a party of around 35 people at a private residence in Mellieha on Friday night.

It was at around 21:15 on Friday that police received a report of a party at a private residence in Mellieha. Police arriving on site heard loud music and even saw people gathered on the roof of the residence.

The residents were ordered to open their doors, and police fined the 35 or so people present.