Aug 17 - Further Investigations Carried Out Following Friday Morning's Incident At Casemates Square
Investigations continue following scenes of violence at Casemates Square in the early hours on Friday morning, which resulted in multiples arrests.
Mobile phone recordings of the incident have been doing the rounds on social media since Friday morning, showing tense scenes between officers and youngsters, with extra Royal Gibraltar Police officers deployed to the area.
Officers were initially called to Casemates Square at 4.30am after spotting a man wanted for theft. When trying to arrest the man in his 40s, he was under the influence of alcohol, and became abusive towards the officers. He was arrested on suspicion of theft and disorderly conduct towards officers while intoxicated.
A 21-year-old university student approached the police and started filming the arrest.
A spokesman for the RGP said: “He was asked to stand back but became obstructive and was preventing the officers from doing what they were doing.
“While recording in a public place is not an offence, this man was interfering and refused to comply.”
The 21-year-old was arrested for allegedly obstructing the police.
Following this arrest, the crowd started to hurl abuse and throw missiles at the police. Three further arrests were made of three men, aged 20, 21 and 18, for violent disorder and obstructing the police.
A dog handler was called to the scene for purposes of crowd control, and in the footage of the incident, a police officer can be seen with an extended baton urging the crowd to “stand back”.
While friends of those arrested filmed the incidents on mobile phones, people can be heard shouting at the police to leave the children alone, and that police dogs are for drugs, not for children.
A further arrest was made when a man in his 40s started threatening police officers as the youngsters were being placed in the police van. A police officer was reportedly acting in self-defence when he pushed the man in the chest but fell back and hit his head on the ground, suffering with a cut to the head which needed hospital treatment. The man was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and obstructing the police.
After reviewing CCTV footage of the incident, a 36-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder the following night.
All those who were arrested have been released on bail. Further investigations are currently being carried out before charges can be made. The police have not ruled out any further arrests pending investigations.
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