Bucharest (AFP) – Protesting shepherds and farmers, joined by far-right groups, clashed with riot police in Romania Tuesday, leaving two dozen people hurt as they called for a ban on live sheep exports to be overturned in the inflation-hit country. Some 2,000 people protested the export ban — imposed by the European Union due to the highly contagious small ruminant plague — in front of the Romanian government building in Bucharest.
Violence broke out when some protesters began throwing objects — including rocks and metal barriers — at law enforcement, which responded with tear gas in a bid to disperse them. Twenty-six people were detained, while 24 people, including eight gendarmes, were hurt. Four of those hurt were taken to hospital, riot police said in a press release.
The demonstration had been called by farmers and shepherd groups. Protesters held banners in support of farmers, calling on the country’s president and prime minister to resign. Some of them chanted the name of far-right politician Calin Georgescu, a former presidential candidate who is standing trial for acts against the constitutional order following the annulment of the presidential elections in 2024. Supporters of Georgescu had spread messages about the protest ahead of it on social media, asking people to join.
The leader of the main far-right group in the country, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that “AUR stands with the farmers and all working Romanians”, calling on protesters to demonstrate peacefully. The Romanian government said in a press release that the protest “degenerated into regrettable acts of violence”, calling for “calm”.
The country’s president Nicusor Dan condemned on X the “extremely serious” violence and “any attempt to turn a legitimate protest into street fighting”. Romanian shepherds also protested in front of the government earlier this year at the end of July. The EU ban on live sheep exports expires at the end of 2026.
The eastern European country of 19 million has been struggling for months with the highest inflation in the European Union and a political crisis with no end in sight. The pro-European government, which adopted austerity measures to reign in a high budget deficit, was brought down in a no-confidence motion in May and a divided parliament failed to confirm a successor.
© 2024 AFP
