Eight officers wearing their uniforms are holding posters with slogans, in Lithuanian and English, reading “Are Leaky Borders and Smuggling Good?!", "What's Good About Barefoot Officers?!", "We Support EU Values and European Justice!" and "Direct Link Between Functions and Funding."
Under the Lithuanian law on assembly, protest meetings of up to 15 persons do not require a sanction from local authorities.
This way, statutory officers – police officers, fire-and-rescue officers, border officers, penitentiary monitors – aim to persuade the local administration into raising financing for the law-enforcement sector, improving social guarantees for officers and launch reforms of the system.
The officers hope that the actions outside the venues of the events held in the framework of the Lithuanian presidency over the European Union (EU) Council will draw more attention of local politicians.
On July 9, border guards intend to start the so-called Italian protest actions when all individuals and vehicles crossing the border will be subjected to extremely lengthy and thorough examination.
The trade unions plan another protest action in central Vilnius on July 19 – they will sing the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco. Furthermore, they plan to hand out brochures about the situation of statutory officers in Lithuania.
