Lithuanian police not to carry automatic rifles: police chief

Lithuanian police decided to re-distribute firearms among police officers so that they would not carry military weapons, police Commissioner General Linas Pernavas said on Monday.

"Concerning the munitions, we have re-distributed existing armament in order to eliminate military weapons, that is, Kalashnikov rifles," the Lithuanian police chief was quoted as saying by local website vz.lt.

He was speaking after a special meeting at the country's presidency, where President Dalia Grybauskaite was discussing the public security situation.

Kalashnikov rifles were distributed to Lithuanian police officers more than a week ago, following the deadly terrorist attacks on November 13 in Paris that killed 130.

However, a potentially dangerous incident was reported within the past week. On the night of November 19, a drug addict managed to escape from a police car after grabbing a Kalashnikov automatic rifle. The runaway was detained later that night after a massive police operation.

"In the view of recent events -- shameful police operations due to the irresponsible use of arms -- have become tests which revealed that public security inside Lithuania calls for more attention," said presidential spokeswoman Daiva Ulbinaite following a meeting, ELTA news agency reported.

Due to these events, Lithuanian interior minister Saulius Skvernelis sent his letter of resignation to the prime minister on November 20.

According to the president's spokeswoman, Grybauskaite underlined that more attention should be paid to police training, simulation of crisis situations, as well as stress management of weapons handling. Endit