Shepherds and citizens who joined them to protest peacefully in Bucharest were gassed and beaten by gendarmes attempting to suppress the demonstration, according to a false narrative promoted in Romania across diaspora groups, as well as (via MEP Diana Șoșoacă) at the European Parliament and on a Russian propaganda channel.
NEWS: “In Romania's capital we can witness the dictatorship of the European Union, which is imposed in Romania by all these political parties that run the entire country. We have large numbers of shepherds because the European Commission ordered a multitude of sheep to be slaughtered [...] there are many interests, we used to hold first place in sheep exports, and now all our orders have been handed over to Spain. Shepherds are taking to the streets because they can no longer survive, the Romanian people have taken to the streets, there are thousands and thousands of them, I don't know, maybe over 50,000 people, and the gendarmerie and police began to beat and gas an unarmed population that was simply there, it was a peaceful demonstration [...]” (Diana Șoșoacă on Russia Today)
“Yesterday, in Victory Square, there weren't just farmers. They were our fathers, our mothers, the people who put bread on our table every day! They came with the national flag in hand and pain in their souls, demanding the right to live off the labor of the land. And what did they receive? Shields, cordons, tear gas and 30 of them dragged away like common criminals!” (Post shared on a Romanian diaspora group)
“[...] FARMERS ARE HAVING THEIR ANIMALS KILLED (through unjustified laws),
poverty, anarchy, and financial crisis are everywhere,.....
The people have had enough, they came out for a peaceful protest.
And?? They woke up gassed for no reason
SHAME ON THE PARASITES SITTING ILLEGALLY IN POWER
SHAME ON THE TRAITORS WHO SOLD US OUT LIKE SLAVES
Macron, Trump, Bibi and Merz's puppets" (Facebook post by Pintilie Ciprian Vasile)
PURPOSE: To project the image of a brutal, authoritarian government attacking peaceful citizens who are exercising their right to protest. To inflame public sentiment in an atmosphere already tense due to multiple overlapping crises. To escalate resentment toward the authorities and the interim government (led by Ilie Bolojan for nearly five months), while channeling frustrations over the annulment of the November 24, 2024, elections. To fuel potentially violent retaliatory reactions against the “injustices” committed by authorities deemed “illegitimate” (such as “taking back Victory Square”, “taking back the country”, or “occupying Bucharest”). To foster the idea that Romanians are beginning to flood the streets to protest against the authorities.
NARRATIVES: 1. Gendarmes brutally attacked the shepherds and citizens protesting peacefully alongside them. 2. The shepherds' demonstration was suppressed under orders from Romania's Western patrons, who allegedly sought to bankrupt Romanian sheep farmers to favor Western producers. 3. Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to protest alongside the shepherds.
The escalation of violence was triggered by individuals infiltrated among shepherds who attacked gendarmes
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: In fact, gendarmes started deploying tear gas only after protesters turned violent, attacked law enforcement and attempted to force their way into the government building. Furthermore, the aggression and threats from the protesters extended to ordinary passersby, individuals working in the area (such as scooter riders), drivers, and corporate employees, and even a TV news crew.
The violence was primarily instigated by individuals who were not shepherds, but who came to Victory Square specifically to stir up tensions and provoke unrest. Among them, the media identified members of Bucharest football ultras groups and supporters of the sovereignist movement, particularly followers of Călin Georgescu. Even Diana Șoșoacă, who actively propagates the narrative of a brutal state intervention, acknowledged in writing that “infiltrators” had surfaced with the intent of hijacking the demonstration.
Live television broadcasts clearly captured the moment when certain protesters breached the gendarme cordon and began hurling objects at law enforcement officers. In response to these actions, gendarmes deployed water cannons and tear gas to disperse the aggressive core of instigators. Ten gendarmes were injured, four of whom required hospital treatment, while 47 individuals were detained and taken to the police station. Subsequently, the District Court ordered house arrest for four individuals and pre-trial arrest for 31 days for a fifth suspect.
Notably, even the shepherds interviewed by journalists at the scene stated that they were not responsible for the violence, that they retreated as soon as clashes broke out, and that their protest had been politically hijacked. Proof of this came the following day when the protest resumed with a core group of about 200 shepherds who had spent the night in Bucharest, some sleeping directly on the green spaces of Victory Square, and continued to demonstrate peacefully without further incident.
Law enforcement forces showed restraint, far below the intensity of the events of August 10, 2018
As for the claim that the crackdown was ordered from abroad, this narrative aligns with the longstanding meta-narrative portraying Romania as a “Western colony”, controlled from outside (whether from Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Washington or all of them combined). Because the violence was initiated by agitators associated with football galleries or sovereignist sympathizers, accepting this theory would imply that Western powers somehow control these domestic hooligans and sovereignist political factions. In truth, the management of public demonstrations falls strictly under the jurisdiction of the host state, and the gendarmerie chain of command is confined entirely to national authorities.
Furthermore, the protest was not brutally suppressed. Unlike the heavy-handed, large-scale intervention seen on August 10, 2018, when hundreds were beaten and Victory Square was entirely cleared within minutes, the gendarmerie's response this time consisted of localized defensive measures and targeted interventions designed to pull the most violent agitators out of the crowd. Security forces displayed notable restraint and were entirely absent for extended periods from adjacent streets that protesters had blocked while harassing and turning back motorists.
Finally, the figure of 50,000 protesters cited by Diana Șoșoacă is vastly exaggerated. The square actually hosted several thousand people, consisting of shepherds and supportive Bucharest residents.
The shepherds' protest, politically hijacked by sovereignist parties
BACKGROUND: Narratives concerning the alleged brutal suppression of a massive popular uprising circulated heavily across social media platforms in Romania and within diaspora networks, where support for sovereignist political entities has grown in recent years. MEP Diana Șoșoacă, an open sympathizer of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, played an active role in pushing these false claims through her personal Facebook page and via RT (Russia Today), a primary Russian foreign propaganda outlet. Șoșoacă also brought these claims to the European Parliament, alleging a government “installed by Brussels” and accusing gendarmes of “beating sheep breeders, beating shepherds, gassing them and trampling them”. Additionally, in another online post, she called for the “occupation of Bucharest” and urged people “not to stay in their pens”, referring to the security cordons established by authorities precisely to prevent chaos and violence.
These fabrications are being amplified amid a complex political, economic and social climate characterized by an unstable government and overlapping crises. The extremist political fringe has advocated (at least rhetorically) for snap elections and the suspension of President Nicușor Dan.
One of the co-organizers of the protest stated that he took a step back the moment he realized the movement was being hijacked for political agendas, adding that he received threats from individuals close to the AUR party because he insisted that the shepherds obtain a formal permit for the demonstration (which ultimately proceeded without authorization).
It is also worth noting that on the exact day of the protest, AUR hosted an “Open Doors Day” at its central headquarters, and an out-of-town AUR member posted online about passing through Victory Square “on the way to headquarters” to “support the shepherds”.
Moreover, George Simion, the leader of the extremist AUR party, publicly anticipated potential violence before it occurred, only to later blame “foreign interests” for infiltrating agitators into the crowd. Simion subsequently drew parallels between the gendarmerie's action against the infiltrators and the events of August 10, when security forces unjustifiably attacked peaceful demonstrators protesting against the gutting of justice laws under governments de facto led by Liviu Dragnea.
Last but not least, observers noted that the combat flag of the Russian Army, which is commonplace in AUR rallies and gatherings of pro-Russian Călin Georgescu supporters, was openly waved during the shepherds' demonstration.
