27/02/2013 00:00
TW
0
Staff Reporter

PALMA
POLICE called to a mass fight on the Paseo Maritimo in Palma in the early hours of Sunday morning were threatened by a group of 20 youths.
At about 3.30am on Sunday police were alerted to an altercation in front of a disco. One of the first officers on the scene tried to mediate but soon found himself surrounded by about 20 youths who started shouting and physically threatening him.

Three or four of them threatened to get a baseball bat from the boot of a nearby car. Another ripped the licence plate of a car and tried to hit the police officer on the neck.

Seconds later officers from a number of different units arrived at the scene and the fight broke up.
As the police started identifying suspects, those involved in the fight started running away from the scene. A description of the suspect who attacked the police officer was radioed to all units. Shortly later a youth fitting the description was spotted by members of another unit. On seeing the police he became nervous and entered a bar. According to several witnesses he had a handbag and a pistol. On seeing the pistol, customers in the bar started fleeing the scene.

The officer entered the bar, intercepted the suspect and took him outside to interview him. While interviewing witnesses inside the bar, the police found the bag and the pistol, which was plastic. The suspect who had no papers on him denied that the bag and pistol was his though several witnesses claimed they had seen him throw the pistol to the floor just after entering the bar. Shortly afterwards a girl came up to the police crying saying that she had had her handbag stolen a short time earlier by the suspect.