A group of police officers on the beat in Żabbar following feast celebrations last year were allegedly subjected to name calling by a group of about 10 people who also made animal and farting noises as they passed by.

The group told the officers that they could smell bacon and also called them pigs, Police Constable John Paul Young testified in the case against four of the group.

The accused, Luigi Scerri, 50, from Marsascala and his brothers, Carmelo, 54 from Tarxien and Jesmond, 44, from Msida, together with 26-year-old Francesco Scerri Harkins, from Dingli are pleading not guilty to a series of charges. They include threatening the officers, challenging them to a fight, assaulting them at the Żabbar police station, violently resisting orders, breaching the peace and swearing in public.

PC Young said that he was walking along with some eight officers down the practically empty main street of Żabbar when from a side road he heard the group making noises.

When the policemen approached the group Mr Scerri Harkins became aggressive towards one of his colleagues and as aggression spread through the group the police arrested them and escorted them to the police station, PC Young said.

The case continues.