A police union has been forced to issue two statements in quick succession after a political news outlet claimed the union was condemning “attacks by Simon Busuttil’s people”.

The Malta Police Association issued a statement on Facebook on Wednesday morning in which it said that a person filmed lunging at a police officer during a Tuesday evening demonstration in Valletta would be prosecuted.

Video shared on social media showed a protester lose his cool and move towards a uniformed officer keeping watch from behind a steel barricade.

Activists had gathered in the capital to protest against the government, which was rocked by three resignations on Tuesday. Another protest – the fourth in eight days – is scheduled for Wednesday evening.

“We condemn yet another attack on a police officer while on duty,” the MPA said.

A politically-owned media channel reported that statement in an article claiming the MPA had “condemned attacks by Simon Busuttil’s people”.

Dr Busuttil is Nationalist Party MP who served as Opposition leader until 2017, when he resigned following electoral defeat.

“The Malta Police Association would like to clarify that while we condemn all attacks towards police officers, we also condemn an article published by ONE News which alleges that the Association identified the person concerned as someone of a particular political persuasion, or that the person acted in this way because they support certain people in politics,” MPA said in response.

The MPA said it had no details about the person seen lunging at the officer in the video and said it could not support articles which twisted statements for political ends.

The article was subsequently amended to note that the protest was "organised by Simon Busuttil's people". 

Protests are being led by civil society groups Repubblika and Occupy Justice, as well as blogger Manuel Delia.