Two 20-year-old men were seriously injured in a nasty traffic accident involving four cars yesterday morning.
Three journalists, reporting the collision, were assaulted by relatives of one of the victims, the police said.
The accident occurred at about 9.30 a.m. in St Andrew's Road by the turn off to High Ridge and Sir Adrian Dingli Junior Lyceum.
Both Patrick Satariano of Naxxar, who was driving a Volkswagen Golf, and Robert Agius of Zebbug, in a Mitsubishi Pajero, were hospitalised, but were not found to be in danger of dying, despite the gravity of the accident.
The roof of the Golf had to be sliced off by Civil Protection Department personnel to remove the driver, who was trapped in his vehicle.
According to the police, the Pajero and the Golf collided first and the Golf, in turn, hit a Mercedes driven by Manuel Sammut, 44, of Swieqi. A Fiat Brava, driven by Mario Borg was also involved, but both the driver of the Mercedes and the Fiat were unhurt, the police said.
Traffic was halted and deviated, causing long tailbacks.
The father and brother of Mr Agius, who arrived on the scene, were arrested for attacking journalists covering the accident, the police said.
They said l-orizzont journalist Brandon Pisani, In-Nazzjon photographer Michael Ellul and Super One cameramen Marco Micallef were allegedly hit repeatedly by Raymond and Adrian Agius.
The pressmen were slightly injured and were taken to the Gzira health centre.
The police intervened and the two men were arraigned later in the day (see below).
The Malta Press Club said in a statement it was expecting a clear message from the courts to society that journalists should not be touched.
Its council strongly condemned the physical aggression on its three members while they were doing their duty. It expressed solidarity with the members of the press and appealed to the police and the courts to take "harsh" steps against the perpetrators of such cowardly acts.
TMPC urged the police to keep its promise to have officers from the Community Media and Relations Unit escort and protect journalists in the case of serious incidents.
A journalist's role to provide information should not meet any obstacles, least of all violence, TMPC said, expressing its disappointment at the fact that episodes of physical aggression towards journalists have not decreased over the years.
Investigations are being conducted by the St Julian's district police.