Inside minister defends “justified” use of pepper spray on anti-government protesters by police

The usage of pepper spray by police on folks protesting towards the ruling celebration chairman has drawn criticism from the opposition. Nonetheless, the inside minister has defended the actions of the officer accountable as “justified and comprehensible”.

The incident passed off within the metropolis of Inowrocław, the place Jarosław Kaczyński, head of the national-conservative Regulation and Justice (PiS) celebration, was assembly with supporters.

A bunch of opponents had gathered close by, chanting, “you’ll go to jail” as Kaczyński entered and left the assembly. Some wore t-shirts with eight stars written on them, symbolising opposition to the celebration (the celebrities correspond to the phrase “J***ć PiS”, that means “F**ok PiS”).

At one level, some males from the group started arguing with cops defending the assembly. Footage captured by broadcaster TVN confirmed one arguing with a police officer, together with utilizing vulgarities. The officer is then seen pushing the person and his companion away earlier than utilizing pepper spray on them.

The video brought about a wave of concern amongst opposition politicians, who’ve typically accused Kaczyński of receiving a disproportionate quantity of state safety. The incident represented “unjustified aggression by the authorities”, tweeted Katarzyna Lubnauer, deputy head of the opposition Civic Coalition (KO) caucus.

“For my part, it appeared very unhealthy, even dramatically towards the principles,” mentioned Piotr Kładoczny, a authorized scholar on the College of Warsaw and deputy president of the board of the Helsinki Basis for Human Rights. “We didn’t see any aggression, aside from verbal aggression, by the folks towards the officers”.

In his view, there was no purpose “to make use of direct coercive measures”, which ought to be employed solely when completely essential. “Right here, using such means was not solely not essential, however didn’t serve any goal in any respect, besides to escalate the battle,” he added, quoted by TVN24.

Nonetheless, such allegations had been rejected by the regional police headquarters, which mentioned that these towards whom the spray was deployed had “used vulgar phrases in the direction of the cops, disobeyed the directions given and, regardless of being warned a number of occasions about using gasoline, nonetheless didn’t transfer away”.

In the meantime, the inside minister, Mariusz Kamiński, expressed his help for the police officer, calling his “agency response justified and comprehensible”.

“Insulting a police officer is a criminal offense,” famous Kamiński. “There might be no consent for attacking officers of the uniformed companies.” Insulting a public official is a criminal offense in Poland that may carry a jail sentence of as much as one 12 months.

The mayor of Inowrocław, nonetheless, criticised the behaviour of the police. Ryszard Brejza – whose son is a distinguished opposition senator – claimed that the officers defending Kaczyński’s assembly had been introduced in from exterior town.

“A bunch of individuals, a few of them masked, with ‘Police’ written on their garments, appropriated a carpark” regardless of nobody approaching the mayor’s workplace to request unique use of the area, claimed Brejza.

“The place was surrounded by officers and remoted, making it not possible for drivers to each use the automobile park and move via it,” he added.

He admitted that “using vulgar language [by the protester] isn’t praiseworthy”, however added that “solely in ‘Putin-like’ states can it change into a possibility to make use of stun gasoline on demonstrators, handcuff them, hit them, and make threats.”

“Such behaviour by a masked police officer could also be tantamount to breaking the regulation by exceeding his powers,” mentioned the mayor, who introduced that his workplace had submitted a notification to prosecutors of a suspected crime.

In the meantime, state broadcaster TVP, which is used as a mouthpiece by the federal government, famous that one of many males utilizing vulgarities exterior Kaczyński’s assembly (however who was not concerned within the confrontation with police) is a number one native politician from Brejza’s group on town council.

Foremost photograph credit score: TVN24 (screenshot)