One detained, four placed under house arrest after violence at Bucharest protest

A Bucharest court ordered the preventive detention of one man and placed four others under house arrest following violence at a shepherds’ protest in Victorei Square in Bucharest earlier this week, News.ro reported. The ruling can be challenged within 48 hours and is therefore not final.

The Bucharest Tribunal Prosecutor’s Office had requested 30-day preventive detention for five people extracted from the crowd during the clashes and subsequently detained.

The District 1 Court approved the request in the case of one person who has no registered address or identity documents in Romania. He was remanded in custody for 30 days, from September 16 to October 15, after the court rejected his request for a less restrictive measure.

Four others were instead placed under house arrest. They must permanently wear electronic monitoring devices and are prohibited from using social media. One is reportedly a supporter of former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu.

The September 15 protest began as a demonstration over animal-disease controls, livestock culling, and restrictions on sheep and goat exports. Several hundred shepherds from across Romania gathered in Victorei Square, but the protest later descended into clashes after some participants broke through police lines and protective barriers.

Some protesters threw stones, pieces of pavement, sticks, and other objects at gendarmes, who responded with water cannons and tear gas. Demonstrators also entered Paris Street, next to the government headquarters, while some even became violent with passersby.

Two gendarmerie vehicles were vandalized, while several journalists were assaulted during the unrest. A total of 24 people required medical assistance.

At the end of the protest, 47 participants suspected of public-order offences were taken to police stations for checks and documentation, while six people were detained. By Wednesday morning, authorities had issued 24 fines totalling RON 46,000.

Interim agriculture minister Tánczos Barna said he was convinced that most shepherds had not attended the protest seeking a physical confrontation with law enforcement.

“Farmers have the legitimate right to protest,” he said, as quoted by News.ro. “It is absolutely unacceptable for this legitimate right and their legitimate demands to be distorted, hijacked, and transformed into utterly reprehensible violent actions.”

Barna estimated that 99% of the shepherds present had not intended to clash with gendarmes. He said organized groups appeared to have initiated the violence and tried from the beginning of the day to divert the demonstration from its stated purpose.

Asked whether political parties had been involved, the minister said this had happened “without a doubt.” He pointed to the presence of members and supporters of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), saying the party had directly or indirectly acknowledged its involvement in the events.

National Liberal Party (PNL) spokesperson Ionel Bogdan and Save Romania Union (USR) MP Alexandru Dimitriu also accused AUR of hijacking the protest, according to Agerpres. Bogdan said the farmers’ serious problems had become less visible after the gathering was transformed into a politically charged and violent demonstration.

“Unfortunately, the peaceful protest of shepherds and farmers was hijacked by AUR,” Ionel Bogdan said.

Alexandru Dimitriu stated, in turn, that protesting was a fundamental democratic right but argued that the problem arose when political or other groups took control of legitimate demonstrations and generated violence. No response from AUR to the accusations was included in the information provided.

Minister Barna also rejected claims that the authorities had taken no action to address the farmers’ concerns. He said weekly talks had taken place with industry associations and that several measures were completed, awaiting approval or already adopted.