Romanian opposition party proposes law change for easier identification of gendarmes

Opposition party Save Romania Union (USR) announced that it has initiated a draft law amending the Gendarmerie Law, according to which the gendarmes should be identified based on numbers displayed on their uniforms. This would make it easier to identify gendarmes with abusive behavior towards citizens, according to the party. Moreover, this way, each gendarme will answer for his actions, and not the Gendarmerie as an institution. The identification numbers will not be public, being known only by the commander of each unit. Thus, the identity of the agents would only be revealed at the request of competent investigation bodies. USR’s proposal comes after the violent protest in Bucharest last Friday, when more than 400 people were injured after the riot police used tear gas and water canons against the protesters. “The Save Romania Union strongly condemns any kind of abuse of the state institutions and considers that the citizen's interest is a priority. There are numerous video images from the August 10 protest, which show the abusive behavior of certain gendarmes on Romanian and foreign citizens who did not represent a threat and were not involved in vandalism. Under these circumstances, the Military Prosecutor's Office must urgently clarify whether the action of the Romanian Gendarmerie was legal,” reads the USR’s press release. So far, almost 70 people who got hurt during the protest on Friday, August 10, in Bucharest went to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine – INML to get medical certificates that show they were injured. Meanwhile, more than 60 protesters filed criminal complaints against the gendarmes. An Austrian cameraman and several Israeli tourists were among those injured during the protest. Suspect detained over stealing gendarme’s gun in Bucharest protest Romania’s president and ruling party blame each other for violent incidents at diaspora protest Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com (photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)