Undue pressure on the police risked making them impotent, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said yesterday in the wake of public reaction to the incident at the Valletta bus terminus.

A black Hungarian student was handcuffed by three rapid intervention unit officers during the incident on Wednesday morning. He had been trying to organise a queue of commuters waiting to apply or top up their Tallinja card when he was spat at and slapped by a Maltese woman. He reported the matter immediately to a police officer standing nearby who, however, took no action.

“The police need to be a bit more careful when dealing with situations they come across,” Mr Abela said. “This will depend on them personally but also on the training they receive. I repeatedly stress the importance of the training given to all disciplined forces because one would tackle a situation according to the resources they are equipped with during training,” he added.

Use of force is legal and justified in certain circumstances

Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli took a much harsher stand on what happened, saying the behaviour of the police was “uncalled for”. She personally apologised to the Hungarian student during a meeting yesterday.

Mr Abela said he would be waiting for the outcome of the inquiry into the incident to see whether the police had overreacted before taking further action.

He appealed to the media and to the public not to make police officers feel impotent even in situations where they were authorised to use force if required.

He referred to the recent case where a man lied under oath about being a victim of police brutality in Paceville.

“The court gave him a suspended sentence and a fine. Was that enough? It’s up to the court to decide. But we cannot risk making the police feel they cannot take any action. Use of force is legal and justified in certain circumstances,” Mr Abela said.

One had to decide what to do by evaluating the circumstances of the situation. Such a decision depended on the individual himself, the seriousness of the crime and the training given.

Mr Abela admitted he was not happy with the training being provided to members of the security forces and would be moving a Bill in Parliament in the coming weeks to transform the Police Academy into an institution providing accredited training for all members of the disciplinary forces.