According to reports, during the announcement of a court decision in a case where a police officer was among the defendants, tensions were raised when the public protested the decision. As shown in a video, police officers pushed and beat people in order to get them out of the courtroom and used chemicals in the court corridor in a reportedly excessive use of force (see more on the incident in 1, 2, 3, 4).
In a state governed by the rule of law, the police authorities must be governed by certain principles, including the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition of the abuse of police power, and the respect for and protection of human rights.
The powers of the police authorities and the conduct to be displayed by them in the performance of their duties are regulated by Decree 141/1991 and Decree 254/2004.
Although the police may use force to enforce the law, this does not mean that all use of preventive or repressive force by the police is lawful. On the contrary, the arbitrary use of the power to use force in excess of legal limits is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.
The reportedly unjustifiably violent behaviour of police forces in order to remove people from a courtroom and the use of chemicals in the court corridor, however, appears to be outside the legal limits of the use of force.
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