Behind the scenes of the uprising in Rukla: the police only spoke of tears over the images taken by the migrants themselves

Did migrant children also suffer from the riots?

What really happened last Saturday night at the Rukla Refugee Reception Center? Why was there a spontaneous protest by migrants, how were the riots put down by the police and the Public Security Service, and how many people were affected?

In seeking an answer to these questions, I was faced with both a lack of communication between institutions and a reluctance to tell the truth.

“It was just an ordinary, traditional night parade, dissatisfaction with living conditions. The protection was not activated, there was no disturbance, “Ričardas Pocius, head of the Public Security Service (VST), told the BNS news agency on Sunday.

According to him, no coercive actions or special measures were taken against the migrants.

The migrants themselves tell the Delfi portal that riots arose when agents used force against friends who were trying to leave their destination, tasers and tear gas were used. Although an initial attempt was made to claim that the death of a child who died in hospital and fell seriously ill was the fault of officials, the migrants themselves denied it on Sunday.

One of them, who contacted the Delfi portal, mentioned that 7 people, including a child, had been affected by police actions.

The police, in turn, assure that no one was injured, no one needed medical help.

The videos show tear gas attacks.

The Delfi portal received the first reports of the riots in Rukla on Saturday night.

Explaining what really happened on Sunday came up with a rather interesting institutional position. Odeta Vaitkevičienė, spokesperson for the Kaunas County Police Chief Commissariat, said that the police did not participate in the riots because they did not quell them. According to the police representative, order in Rukla was maintained by VST officials, who are guarding the migrant camp. It was they who detained several people who tried to leave and returned them to the camp, and the police did not record any violation of public order.

Although the police initially said that they had not used tear gas or Taser electric pulse devices, the videos recorded by the migrants themselves and transmitted to the Delfi portal attest to the contrary.

A uniformed man can be clearly seen approaching the metal door, lifting a large balloon and firing a stream of tear gas at the enraged people.

Another video captures a young man carrying and lying on the ground after a gas attack. In another video, a man asks the officer behind the fence in English “why a Tazer was used” against him, and in another, the woman asks the officers behind the fence to return the man and knock on the door.

Convinced that both the testimonies of the migrants and the videos they provided were fundamentally different from what the authorities said publicly, we reached out to VST Commander General Richard Pocius.

“Nothing was used. Protection was not activated and no action was taken. Because practically nothing happened, “VST commander R. Pocius told the Delfi portal.

After mentioning that the video shows migrants being gassed, General R. Pocius once again assured that neither VST officials nor volunteer volunteers actually used any means.

“Maybe some old events are sending you. Certainly not because the protection did not respond. They screamed, like every day in all camps, the standard discontent with living conditions. And traditionally it happens in any camp every day,” he said. VST commander R. Pocius.

Police eventually admitted that tear gas had been used

So who fired tear gas if the VST commander says no? After watching the videos several times, it is very likely that they captured the Rukla Refugee Reception Center and filmed from the upper floors of the building, where the migrants live.

In the distance, the modular cabins are a new camp for up to 400 vulnerable migrants, families with children and unaccompanied minors.

After repeated contacts with the representatives of the Ministry of the Interior and mentioning that the images seen in the available footage are fundamentally contrary to what was said in public, it was suggested to contact the spokesman for the Police Department Ramūnas Matonis.

Finally he confirmed to the Delfi portal that police officers had also arrived in Rukla during the riots. According to R. Matonis, they used tear gas.

The migrants themselves affirm that 7 people, including a child, were affected by the initiation of tear gas. It is also claimed that Taser electrical pulse devices were used.

After contacting the spokesman for the Kaunas County Police Chief, O. Vaitkevičienė, he confirmed that the gas had been used, but denied that no one had been harmed.

“Tasers were not used. No one was hurt by the gas that I know of. Nobody needed medical help, ”a representative of the Kaunas County Police Chief’s Station told the Delfi portal.

It is true that the videos record the arrival of an ambulance, and the paramedics get out of it and rush over a possible child of several people sitting on the ground, one of which is from the lower body.

The migrants gave their version: the discomfort was caused by the detainee

Residents of the Rukla Refugee Reception Center presented their version of the reasons for the riots on Sunday afternoon. They said a family tried to leave the camp.

“This family tried to escape because we all live not as human beings but as criminals in prison. The police detained them, but only the woman with the children was returned and the man was detained. The woman wanted her husband back, and we all sympathized with her and asked for her freedom, ”said the migrant representative.

He clarified that the man who tried to escape with his family was returned to a refugee reception center with his family on Sunday. 2 more people were also arrested and returned along with the aforementioned fugitive.

Beatričė Bernotienė, director of the Rukla Refugee Reception Center, also mentioned that an attempt was made to leave on Saturday night.

Who stopped the refugees, the police or the VST?

However, it is not clear who has detained the migrants living in Rukla.

“I would like to clarify that the police did not stop anything. VST was detained, ”said O. Vaitkevičienė, spokesman for the Kaunas County Police Chief Commissariat on Sunday.

The commander of the VST, R. Pocius, for his part, assured that the officials at his service had not taken any action, and the protest, which he called only a traditional patrol, ended on Saturday before midnight when the migrants left. they lay down.

“They screamed, they made noise about 12 o’clock. went to sleep. We are used to these types of situations, we know what they will end up in. If there had been a breakthrough or resistance, then yes, our men would have reacted. And the police may have activated the forces, “said R. Pocius.