Two men arrested after six police officers assaulted in Strabane

A PSNI spokesperson said the men's actions were serious offences
Author: Chris BrennanPublished 11th Feb 2023

Two men have been arrested after six police officers were assaulted in Strabane.

The pair were stopped in the Castle Place area shortly before midnight on Friday evening to see if they needed medical assistance.

The men - both in their 20s - became verbally abusive and began lashing out when placed under arrest.

A PSNI spokesperson said: "In what other job would this happen? These are men and women who are working hard to keep their communities safe and this is how they are treated.

“While we come to work knowing we could be faced with difficult and dangerous situations, it is completely unacceptable that our officers should be assaulted and verbally berated in the most shocking ways for simply doing their jobs."

"We have robust procedures in place to ensure the welfare of our officers and will continue to provide them with any and all support that we can. Thankfully, on this occasion, their injuries were not more serious and they felt well enough to remain on duty.

“But it highlights our message that all assaults on emergency service workers - be that a nurse, doctor, paramedic or police officer - are serious offences and there are serious consequences."