A report by the Police Complaints Authority into the use of pepper spray on protesters last year is set to be released this week.

Asked about the promised report at a press conference, Wayne Caines, Minister of National Security, said: “We should have the report in the public domain by the close of business on Friday of this week.”

He declined to disclose what the contents of the report could be.

The report is into an incident that took place on December 2 last year at a protest against the airport redevelopment project in which police officers clashed with demonstrators blocking access to the House of Assembly.

At least 26 complaints were filed to the authority by members of the public in connection with the incident, while police alleged that 14 officers were assaulted.

A previous review, by Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead

of the National Police Co-ordination Centre in Britain, examined the strategy adopted by officers.

It found that officers were not adequately trained to deal with the “unexperienced levels of determination” and that the tactics adopted were doomed to fail.

And while a dozen individuals involved in the protest, including union leaders Jason Hayward and Chris Furbert, were charged with offences before the courts, the Director of Public Prosecutions abandoned the prosecution of all but two participants.

Of those two, one received a six-month conditional discharge for striking an officer with an umbrella, while a second was sentenced to a year in prison for repeatedly hitting an officer with a walking stick.