Police officers and prosecutors are carrying out 29 searches on Tuesday in a criminal case concerning the violent incidents at last week’s protest in Victoriei Square in the capital.

According to a statement issued to AGERPRES on Tuesday by Bucharest Police, officers from the Bucharest General Directorate of Police’s Violent Criminal Groups Service and Central Criminal Investigations Service, under the coordination of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Tribunal, are executing 29 house-search warrants and 30 warrants to bring people in, in Bucharest and the counties of Arad, Bacău, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brăila, Călărași, Cluj, Constanța, Covasna, Dâmbovița, Gorj, Ialomița, Prahova, Sălaj, Timiș and Vaslui.

The action is being carried out as part of a criminal case in which investigations are under way into the alleged offences of public incitement, assault on public officials, disturbing public order and the peace, destruction, and assault or other acts of violence, involving 40 people. Preventive measures had previously been ordered against ten defendants, and the investigations concern incidents that occurred in the context of the protest held on 15 September in Victoriei Square, Bucharest, the statement says.

‘In fact, on 15 September, in the context of the protest held in Victoriei Square, some participants are alleged to have used violence and made threats against gendarmes who were carrying out their duties. Several objects, namely kerbstones, bottles, metal barriers and pyrotechnic devices, are alleged to have been thrown by the violent participants towards the gendarmerie personnel,’ Bucharest Police says.

Police also say that some demonstrators are alleged to have behaved aggressively, punching and kicking several gendarmes and hitting them with wooden objects, namely clubs, while some perpetrators are alleged to have used physical violence against two employees of a media group who were at the scene in the course of their duties.

The source also says that during the demonstration several protesters are alleged to have caused damage to a special vehicle, as well as to other property belonging to the Gendarmerie.

‘In order to gather evidence and document the criminal activity, 29 house-search warrants and 30 warrants to bring people in are being executed today (Tuesday – ed. note),’ DGPMB said.

Investigations are continuing under the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Tribunal, together with police officers from the Violent Criminal Groups Service and the Central Criminal Investigations Service, to establish the full extent of the criminal activity and each person’s involvement in the case.

SOURCE: AGERPRES