The last public tender was a complete failure. Nobody wanted to supply tear gas and handcuffs, and there were only invalid bids for electric shocks. What could be the reason for this?
Unsuccessful procurement by the Hungarian police
In Hungary the procurement of various means of coercion was completely unsuccessful in the latest state tender announced by the Defence Procurement Agency LTD, writes G7.
No one wanted to supply tear gas and handcuffs, and only invalid bids were received for electric shocks, while the only bidder would have been too expensive for police batons, rtl.hu reports.
It could have been big business
Billions of forints could have been won with this public procurement. The Hungarian police could have bought truncheons, various tear-sucking materials, handcuffs or even electric shocks for the police. Not only the police, but also the tax authorities, the prison service and other law enforcement organisations need equipment.
Surprisingly, this is not the first unsuccessful public procurement, as the tax authority had previously tried to purchase 350 gas sprays without success.
The last time, the state purchased 50,000 smaller, larger tear gas sprays for nearly HUF 290 million (EUR 780,608.66).
According to the Minister of the Interior, they have also been used against students defending their teachers in protests in recent weeks. The tear gas sprays, which can be seen in most of the photos of the demonstrations, cost around HUF 20,000 (EUR 54) each.
I’m surprised that the Orban government has not approached the masters of repression – Russia – for a bid to supply means of coercion. The Russians have a good supply of everything you need. While the tear gassing of the student and teacher demonstrators was something that should have been avoided I would avoid criticizing the Hungarian police in general. They are professionals. The suppliers of coercive equipment may be having real concerns about what the Orban government may be capable of doing in the future and that what happened with the students is just the beginning. Hopefully if the government asks the police to do something unethical they will refuse. Unfortunately now in Hungary if you refuse to do what the government wants you often lose your job or your business is persecuted by government officials. That is dictatorship.