Police refuses to attack workers

[punisa]

Serbia is recently experiencing mass worker demonstrations.
This has been going on for some time, but the police force took a rather unusual step - they refused to attack the workers protest because they themselves feel oppressed.
Can the ruling elite of any country afford to have "unhappy" police?

The article was published in Croatian newspaper "Vecernji List", I'll do my best to translate the important parts:

BELGRADE - After the Serbian government Saturday night session on the phone ordered the police to use all means, including force, to prevent demonstrators across Serbia that blocked roads and railway lines, both the police union of Serbia and the Independent Union of Police, announced they will not respect this decision and "will not fight the hungry workers!" - Belgrade Press.

- One should put himself in the role of policeman who earns 35,000 dinars per month (around 670 USD) and must feed the family. Our elementary labor rights are constantly violated. We do not get paid for night work, weekend work and all that is in accordance with the law - angrily says Aleksandar Gavrilovic, president of the Independent Union of Police.

- Police do not want to interfere with citizens unnecessarily, but the state can not allow the blocking of international traffic routes. This is very harmful for all of us - said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic .

source (in Croatian): http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/srbijanska-policija-necemo-da-bijemo-gladne-radnike-clanak-83885

[Saorsa]

Police union say they “won’t beat hungry workers“
25 January 2010 | 14:26 | Source: Beta

BELGRADE -- Interior Minister Ivica Dačić has addressed statements coming from Serbian police (MUP) unions concerning protests of workers and veterans.

On Friday, the government made a decision to order MUP to remove blockades from roads and railroads “taking all possible measures to secure the uninterrupted flow of traffic”.

Today, Dačić said that the police will only react “as the last resort” and that there will be no abuse of police, related to the breaking up of blockades.

He spoke in reaction to a statement issued by the Serbian Police Union, to say that the “union knows that police will not be abused” and that “police will not beat the people”.

“No one will abuse police and no one will be beating people,” Dačić said, calling on citizens to refrain from engaging in conflicts with police.

The minister also pointed out that Serbia cannot allow anymore blockades of highways and railroads.

But the Serbian Police Union said in its press release that it received “with indignation” the government’s announcement that it will use police to stop the “demonstrations of hungry workers throughout Serbia”.

“Hungry policemen cannot attack hungry workers. We agree that highways cannot be blocked, because this harasses all other citizens as well, but this is not the way to solve it,” the union stated, reminding of the difficult circumstances under which police are working.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=01&dd=25&nav_id=64744

Ministers explain, unions slam govt. move
25 January 2010 | 11:42 | Source: B92, FoNet, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Labor Minister Rasim Lajić says negotiations with representatives of war veterans from several southern municipalities will be continued on Thursday.

But Lajić said that there are two reasons why there can be “no talk about additional payments” according to the so-called Toplica model – one used by the previous government to settle similar disputes relating to unpaid and additional war wages.

According to Lajić, those who wish to have additional payments will have to address a court, while the Toplica model “was a mistake which the current government has no intention of rectifying and buying peace within the community that way".

"We do not have that kind of money, so we can only discuss the process to solve the problem, and that process will take a while," Lajić noted.

He said that the government is aware of the difficult position of the veteran population, especially in certain municipalities in Serbia, adding that it is not trying to avoid helping them.

Lajić feels that there are three reasons for the present increase in the number of strikes and protests: the difficult financial situation, an attempt to gain certain rights and to turn the discontent of some individuals into a political issue.

Meanwhile, after the government announced it told Serbian police (MUP) to use force to disperse protesters – workers and veterans – Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said in Niš that the police must ensure normal transportation, and that its use to clear international roads and railways will be the last resort in solving problems.

Commenting on the Serbian government conclusion from Friday, Dačić noted that the government realized the extent of the economic damage from having a transport route blocked every few days.

"Serbia is losing its credibility in Europe that way," Dačić remarked, asking all those who were on protest not to do it in places where the police would have to react.

Dačić also called for all protesters not to clash with the police, because "the police is not to blame for their problems."

Everyone has to get involved in solving problems, from local authorities to the state ones, Dačić explained.

"Various groups within the government have been formed to solve these problems, because the use of force is only the last resort in unblocking a road or railway," Dačić said.

He stated that the Niš-Sofia and Leskovac-Skopje railways were cleared peacefully on Saturday.

"The police reaction in Leskovac was not such that it could be called an action, because it is well known that the police can solve situations like that very efficiently," Dačić said.

In Belgrade, President of the United Branch Unions Branislav Čanak told B92 that the government, with this decision, is not solving the problems of the workers but demonstrating force.

He said that the decision will not decrease the number of protests in Serbia.

“This is a return to the good old Milosevic methods – let’s disperse those that are asking for something with beatings, and we don’t care what they are asking for. The old scenario returns, and this will be building up regardless of whether you push someone off of one railroad, and then they go to another, and even if you chase them off all railroads the problems remain unsolved and they build up, until one day people will come out in such great numbers that there will not be enough batons to chase them all away. That already happened to Milošević,” Čanak warned.

Asked whether the decision violates workers’ rights, Čanak said that “in states with the rule of law, there’s no need to go to any road or highway. If there’s no rule of law, then you must do what the state is doing to you. You have to push back in the same manner.”

Asked why the decision to forcefully clear blockades came precisely now, Čanak said that it is “because it appears to the government that this is gaining becoming widespread. They know best how many unsolved problems there are and how many people were hurt by the unsolved problems. And then they sat down and counted on more and more people heading out to railroads and highways, resorting to these measures that lead, or they believe are leading to a solution for something we have been waiting on for many years. The government counted, and knows how many things have not been solved, it said – ‘alright, at least this many people will come out, then it is better to react in time to scare them into not coming out’.”

However, Čanak believes that this will not stop protests in Serbia.

“If you close a bowl with steaming water on one end, it will come out in another place. This was demonstrated a long time ago. These problems should be solved,” he said.

Also commenting on the government decision, opposition SNS Legal Council official Marko Đurić said that this party is condemning the idea to get MUP involved in breaking up protests.

Đurić said that Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković was in fact “signing the SNS petition for new elections when he signed the decision”.

These measures are for emergency situations, Đurić said, adding that the government will face the consequences of their decision.

But Serbian Railway came out in support of the government’s decision.

The company’s media center director Nenad Stanisavljević said that the company has suffered “enormous losses” because of the recent blockades, because since railroads have been blocked by protests for a total of about 15 days since the middle of last year.

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=01&dd=25&nav_id=64737