A member of the European Union parliament (MEP) has called out mounting police violence on peaceful demonstrators in Europe, stating that “the EU is transitioning from democracy to tyranny.”
Christian Terheș of Romania, along with other representatives of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), decried the trend of mounting police violence at anti-COVID regulation and anti-government protests in Europe.
“Under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, the EU is transitioning from democracy to tyranny,” the MEP said during a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 13.
“I’ve seen what happened in 1989, in December in Romania, when we took it to the streets to fight against communism,” he said, equating the situation in today’s Europe with that during the communist era.
“Look where we are right now: from and Iron Curtain, handled by the USSR, we live right now in a world… that you could easily call the ‘Iron Fist,’” Terheș argued. “This is what the EU became.”
Amsterdam atrocities
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Terheș was especially appalled by police actions during protests in Amsterdam on Jan. 2 and other protests elsewhere in the Netherlands last year.
“What I saw… I could not believe,” the ECR member said. “That in western Europe, a police department — a government — could treat people the way those people were treated by the police in Amsterdam on January 2nd.”
“This is just one out of the many pictures released by the media that were released by the media when innocent protesters were mauled by police dogs,” he continued while he held up a picture of a police dog mauling a protester during the Amsterdam protest.
“The only thing those people asked for was to have their basic, fundamental human rights respected by their own government, which did not happen.”
Appreciation for the veterans
Terheș also voiced his appreciation for the military veterans who attended the Amsterdam protests and who formed a cordon to keep the demonstrators clear from the riot police squads.
“They came, and they created a line of defense between these brutal police forces, and the innocent bystanders,” he said. “And if you look on the images, you will see that the ones who got beaten first were the veterans,” the MEP said.
READ MORE:
Violence Erupts, Amsterdam Police Use Excessive Aggression Against Peaceful Demonstrators
He was probably alluding to a video that surfaced showing how riot police members stepped aside while another team of jean-clad fighters in riot gear bearing unknown insignia on their sleeves stepped in and attacked the veterans without giving any notice.
Some fear these troops belonged to the notorious Eurogendfor forces, a supra-national army especially dedicated to suppressing opposition during uproars. Mostly they are deployed on foreign soil and, purportedly, have a license to kill when it comes to opponents who resist their arrest.
Terheș lambasts French President Emmanuel Macron
Terheș also vented his anger for French President Emmanuel Macron who said that those who refuse the vaccine are “not citizens,” adding that his remarks intended to “piss them off” and make life miserable.
READ MORE:
Macron Says the 10 Percent Unvaccinated are ‘Not Citizens’ Just to ‘Piss ‘em Off’
“Macron just said a few days ago that if you’re not vaccinated or if you don’t have a green certificate, you are not a citizen anymore,” Terheș said. “You know what that means? That you don’t have rights.”
Italian fury
Another ECR member, Francesca Donato grilled the Italian authorities for the way they handled the COVID-19 pandemic, which she deemed a “true health service collapse.”
“This minority is segregated and persecuted by the government for just political reasons,” Donato said, referring to the vaccine-free who are increasingly being excluded from partaking in public life. “I wonder how the EU institution can go on being indifferent to all of that,” she added.
