Hundreds of police officers protested in Romania's capital, Bucharest, over pay cuts and poor working conditions.
They gathered in front of the Ministry of Interior building where they blew horns, blew whistles and lit smoke flares in the colors of the Romanian flag - blue-yellow-red, to express their anger over the two-year wage freeze, pension cuts and unacceptable working conditions.
"As many as 3.000 police stations have toilets outside, in the yard, and they don't have running water," Kosmin Andreika, president of the Europol police union, told AP.
The cuts are part of broader budget austerity by the coalition government led by Prime Minister Florin Kicu of the right-wing National Liberal Party that came to power in December.
A few days ago, the union Europol published on the Internet a photo of a pile of plaster that fell from the ceiling of a police station in the northern city of Botošani, damaging documents and equipment, endangering the lives of police officers.
The demonstration, which was organized by two police unions, was held on the Day of the Romanian Police, which celebrated its 199th anniversary this year.
Like other protesters, Ioan Ćanarau, vice president of the Europol union, attended the demonstration wearing leg shackles.
"We are protesting with chains on our feet because we feel tied down and because we cannot offer citizens good police protection," Canarau said.
Romania's interior minister did not respond to requests to respond to the police union's claims.
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