The demonstration of firefighters in Orense, who have been on strike since June 15 to demand better work, ended in a confrontation between them and the riot police of the National Police. Protesters even used a flamethrower at the most tense moment of the dispute.
The Unified Police Union (SUP) showed their support to the partners of the Police Intervention Unit (UIP) who formed the police cordon to protect the Ourense Provincial Council. In the protest, firefighters also used smoke canisters, flares and firecrackers.
“Firefighters from the Provincial Council of Ourense tried to enter, and when they were prevented from doing so, they even attacked our colleagues who were on fire. It seems unbelievable that people who know how sick one It is a burning pain to do these actions,” criticized the SUP.
The protests started last Friday in front of the provincial institution in Pontevedra, and today it’s the turn of the province of Orense, where firefighters gathered in front of the Provincial Pazo shouting “resignation”, “poor firefighters, never again” or “corruption” , throwing paint on the façade of the building and also burning tires in front of it, in the center of Rúa Progreso.
Likewise, the streets were filled with smoke not only from burning tires, but from the use of smoke canisters, flares and firecrackers. More than 200 firefighters gathered at the door of the institutional headquarters where there were many riot police and where moments of tension occurred.
One of the firefighters was injured in the nose when he was hit in the struggle. According to fire department sources, he suffered a nasal septum, for which he was taken by ambulance to the Orense University Hospital Complex.
For its part, the police union SUP Galicia denounced on social networks the “radical” protest in which, it admitted, the protesters attacked “with great violence and including flamethrowers” the agents protecting the officer that place. In addition, he announced his intention to appear as a private prosecutor to claim damages caused by the two agents.
