BUDAPEST, Aug 10 (Bernama-dpa) -- A fake news report on TikTok claiming that ambulance staff were kidnapping children has led to an attack on emergency responders, according to the German Press Agency (dpa), which cited Romanian media reports on Monday.
According to the report, paramedics picked up a patient in Recea-Cristur, a village in Transylvania, to take him to hospital in Cluj-Napoca. While travelling on a country road, their path was blocked by a car and attacked with axes, clubs and stones.
Romanian media reports said the attackers had learned through TikTok that ambulances were dangerous. The ambulance driver suffered an eye injury but was able to continue the 30-kilometre journey to the hospital.
The hospital in Cluj-Napoca later said that it would take three months for his injured eye to heal. The patient who had been picked up also arrived safely at the clinic.
Police held six men and one woman, who were remanded in custody for 30 days by a court in Dej.
Romania's poorer communities have long harboured extreme distrust of government agencies. Fake news reports claiming that children are being kidnapped using ambulances have circulated online in Romania for years.
In 2018, a woman was beaten after transporting books to Romanian villages in a decommissioned ambulance as part of a cultural project.
"Ambulances do not steal children, but TikTok steals brains," Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu posted on Facebook, calling for legislation.
-- BERNAMA-dpa