Swarm of bees attacks police officers on beekeeping demonstration: irony of fate?

Created: 01/07/2022, 3:00 PM

By: Nina Marie Jarosch

During a demonstration in Chile, police officers are attacked by a swarm of bees as they try to break up the protest and arrest the beekeepers.

Santiago de Chile - When police wanted to break up a beekeeping protest in the Chilean capital, the situation got out of hand and several officers were attacked and stung by an angry swarm of bees, as reported by Landtiere.de.

Coincidence or the irony of fate?

Swarm of bees attacks police officers on beekeeping demonstration: irony of fate?

With thousands of bees, Chilean beekeepers protest outside the presidential palace in Santiago, calling for government reform to raise honey prices or provide subsidies.

The beekeepers see their very existence threatened by a persistent drought.

Honey production suffers from the fact that the bees' food sources, such as flowers and crops, wither and the bees starve to death.

“There would be no life if the bees died.

That's what we want to emphasize with this demonstration, ”beekeeper Jose Iturra told local media.

Beekeepers bring around 60 beehives to the demonstration in Chile.

(Symbol picture) © Westend61 / Imago

Swarm of bees attacked police officers on beekeeping demonstration: 7 officers had to go to the hospital

To underline their protest, the beekeepers set up around 60 beehives with an estimated 10,000 insects on the main street in front of the seat of government.

Because many of the city's residents are concerned about the bees, police officers are sent to remove the beehives and break up the demonstration.

Thousands of bees escape.

They attack the officials and passers-by are forced to flee.

As a video from the Twitter account “8livier” shows, bees are buzzing around everywhere.

Seven officers are stabbed, and some even have to go to the hospital.

Then the handcuffs click for four of the beekeepers.

Swarm of bees attacked police officers on beekeeping demonstration: Insect deaths due to climate change

But bee deaths are not only a big problem in Chile.

Droughts and rising temperatures as a result of climate change have affected bee populations worldwide.

A study published in Science in 2020 found that within a generation, populations decreased by around 50 percent in North America and 17 percent in Europe.

In addition to the loss of habitats, increasing air pollution and the constant use of pesticides in agriculture are causing problems for the hard-working insects.