Romanian PM Requests Investigation On Protester Arrests

"The prime minister took notice in the matter, held a talk with the interior minister and asked him to start an investigation," the quoted sources said.

Wednesday, on Ion Minulescu street in Bucharest District 4, around 13:30 local time, a squad from the Bucharest Gendarmerie patrolling the area between Unirii Square and Timpuri Noi, was notified by the three guardians of the company SC Flaros SA, that there are events that might disturb the public peace in the area around the company’s headquarters.

Several anti-NATO activists had rented for two weeks a warehouse owned by Flaros, as the contract expired on April 7.

Wednesday, the guard and the Flaros owner stated they had been assaulted by the protesters, as the owner of the company showed media the injuries inflicted by the alleged assailants.

When the owner issued a complaint, police forces arrested 46 protesters found on the platform of the former Timpuri Noi factory, while another eight people found in the area were also taken off the street and brought to police stations, together with the protesters.

Bucharest Police chief Marian Tutilescu said Wednesday evening that, of the people arrested in the Timpuri Noi area, 22 were Germans, two were Czechs, 26 Romanians, one Moldovan, one Portuguese, one Spanish and another one Polish, while the 17 women arrested were released soon afterwards.

The Timpuri Noi raid was performed by 50 representatives of police forces, including 16 gendarmerie units, the remaining units belonging to the Fast Intervention Police Service, legal sources said.

Some of the militants who were arrested said they suffered from police brutality.