Updated 1.35pm with details of the criminal code

The police hit back at the publication of bodycam footage showing the lead-up to a Ħamrun brawl, which saw five people charged with assaulting police officers last month. 

In September, four men and one woman were taken to court and accused of attacking two police officers who tried to issue one of them a ticket for an illegally parked vehicle. 

Clips of the brawl recorded by passers-by had already been published before the group were arraigned. 

However, footage from the bodycam of one of the police officers involved in the brawl found its way to social media on Wednesday, showing a tense interaction between one of the police officers and the accused leading up to the fight. 

In a statement on Thursday, the police said that whoever had leaked the footage had been "selective" about which parts of the footage they had aired, describing the omission of wider context as "deplorable". 

"From a comprehensive video of 23 minutes, the publishers of this video selectively only chose to air about three minutes of it and does not include the moment when the police officers were physically assaulted and injured, with one of them suffering serious injuries," they said. 

The police also said that since the video being circulated is part of the evidence in the cause, according to Article 518 of the Criminal Code, it should have never been broadcast or circulated. 

"The police will be bringing this matter to the court's attention," they said. 

However, Article 518 specifically says that: "any act, which is pronounced in open court, shall be open to inspection by any person, and copies thereof may be given..."

The criminal code.

Elton Anthony Borg, Erica Borg, Kurt Borg, Redeimen Aquilina and Christian Mansueto face a raft of charges related to the brawl, namely assaulting the police officer and the resulting public disturbance. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

A second bodycam, which was lost during the brawl, has yet to be recovered. The police have said that footage from a nearby bus shelter showed one of the accused pick it up. 

Defence lawyers have said that the recovery of this footage is crucial to the case and claim that their clients were provoked by the "arrogant" police officers.