Europol Union Accuses Gendarmes of Using Tear Gas on Police

The Europol trade union is accusing an incident that allegedly occurred on Monday at the protest in front of the government, where a Gendarmerie detachment chief allegedly used tear gas, injuring one of the prison police officers.

“Yesterday, at the protest in front of the Government, as a form of ‘respect’ for the police and prison guards who came early in the morning from hundreds of kilometers, a Gendarmerie detachment chief used the irritant-tear spray, injuring one of the prison guards,” reads a post on the Europol Union’s Facebook page. The images posted do not capture the moment of the use of tear gas, but at one point two prison guards are seen rubbing their eyes, while standing just two steps away from the gendarmes who were securing the perimeter of the protest and from whom they were separated only by a fence.

“This is what the descendants of the officers involved in the events of August 10 show, who took advantage of the moment to exhaust their arsenal of gas and to use batons indiscriminately. This disgrace of the Gendarmerie, which also has subordinates, should be urgently removed from such a position,” Europol representatives also wrote, specifying that “the police and prison officers protested including in the interest of the gendarmes.”

Gendarmerie’s retort

The Bucharest Gendarmerie explained that during Monday’s protest, several participants tried to force the device, in order to enter the road and block traffic, at which point a gendarme used a hand-held sprayer with an irritant-tear-causing substance.

“Around 1:30 p.m., during the public gathering at Victoriei Square, several participants in the protest spontaneously resorted to forcing the device of metal panels and the cordon of gendarmes, in order to push them onto the roadway, in order to block the traffic of vehicles,” the Bucharest Gendarmerie reported on Tuesday.

The cited source specified that the protesters did not comply with the gendarmes’ recommendations to maintain the peaceful nature of the public gathering. “In the area where the main pushing force was manifested, there was a risk of creating a breach through which they could enter the roadway, a gendarme used a hand-held sprayer with an irritant-tear-causing substance. We would like to mention that no one was injured, and through this measure the intention of the demonstrators was stopped”, the Bucharest Gendarmerie also reported.

Hundreds of police officers employed in Romanian prisons protested on Tuesday, December 31, against the government’s adoption of the “little train” ordinance. Dissatisfied that the government has decided that overtime, weekends and public holidays will no longer be paid, the police officers in the prisons have stopped working.

The police warned that the protest actions will continue next year. “On December 31, 2024, starting at 7:00 a.m., prison police officers from the entire prison system will refuse to enter the service. The notifications regarding the refusal of additional work as a legal right provided for in the Labor Code were centralized by the SNPP and sent to the units prior to the action. Each unit is desperately trying to compensate through all kinds of methods, some more ingenious than others, the blockade that will last at least 12 hours and will be extended for several days in January,” the SNPP unionists said in a statement.

At Rahova Penitentiary, police officers refused to go to work since the early hours of the morning. They are protesting, claiming non-payment for overtime hours worked, as well as for days off when they were called from home to work. The situation was similar at Jilava Penitentiary and Poarta Alba prison.