The protest on Tuesday started with prison officers marching from the Ministry of Justice down Gediminas Avenue, chained and handcuffed, and led by a colleague dressed as a prisoner.
The performance aimed to show the increased risk that the system could be taken over by convicts due to the hostile work atmosphere and the lack of officers, organisers said.
After the march, a group of about 50 officers rallied in Independence Square outside the Parliament, holding posters saying "Escaping prisoners – an unsafe society", "We demand a decent wage", "Free the officers from their chains".
Kęstutis Pauliukas, head of the Trade Union of Pre-Trial Investigation Institutions, told ELTA it is a warning protest and a new one is planned next year.
"Wages, the bad microclimate in prisons – these are the most important issues. We also need to start cleaning up the system from those officers who have played with our officers, our junior professionals, and who are today in certain positions. There are cases being built up against our colleagues, and they have been made out of nothing. We want to say that they must honourably put in their resignation and retirement letters. We are not saying that a pre-trial investigation should be opened, we are asking them to leave the system gracefully," he said.
The union leader said a newcomer is paid EUR 900 while those who have been working 10 or 15 years in the system receive up to EUR 1,100.
The protest was joined by the Lithuanian Federation of Law Enforcement Officers, Public Security Service (VST) and police officers, Pauliukas said.