Oh, cops certainly do have the right to tow your vehicle and take you to the next police office, where you spend maybe 2-3 hours of processing. I can tell you, it's a boatload of bureaucracy and they won't let you out until it's all done.
A whole load of both public and private organisations have the right to tow your vehicle for many, many things, like simply parking in the wrong place, and you have to do the paperwork.
At this point you're essentially just arguing that if you break you countries local laws you have to deal with the police... mmm.