TIRANA, July 24 – Strong moments of tension took place on Wednesday morning in front of the National Theater building in Tirana, where there was a clash between police forces and a group of artists and citizens protesting against the government’s project to demolish the existing building and build a new theatre as part of high-rise complex.
Everything started when police forces appeared at the theater building to ensure the entrance of some administration staff in charge of the process of materials’ inventory.
The artists and some citizens who had spent the night in the theatre’s yard tried to go in “to see what the administration employees were doing there.”
The clashes continued for a long time, as the number of protesting artists and citizens, as well as of the police forces, joined by the Municipal Police, increased.
The situation marked strong instances of irritation, when the police physically kept the artists who wanted to enter the building from getting inside.
Actor and director Edmond Budina said police forces had “dragged” him.
opposition representatives joined the Protests in front of the theater and then Democratic leader Lulzim Basha did as well.
“The battle is run by the artists and the Alliance for the Theater, we are in their support and will be in support with all the forms and tools,” said Basha, according to whom the project aimed at the demolition of the current building and the construction of a new Theater “is a robbery.”
“This is a criminal project by which Edi Rama wants to steal millions of euros, together with his clients. Everything that is being developed here has only one purpose: robbing this land and developing a project over 200 million euros to launder drug money with a condemned architect in Italy, who is Edi Rama’s architect,” Basha said.
Albanian President Ilir Meta also intervened concerning this situation,
“The siege of the National Theater by police and the physical collisions with the artists community, who are there to protect one of the values of our historical, cultural and national heritage, are an ugly and embarrassing event,” wrote the head of state on a Facebook post.
“I call upon the State Police to respect the artists and to not physically violate the exercise of their right to protest an abusive and corrupt decision to destroy the Theater building or to hurt them spiritually, in respect for human dignity and the valuable contributions they have given to art and national culture,” Meta wrote.
As the situation calmed down some artists and citizens managed to enter the Theater building from one of the side windows and then opened the main door from inside. From that point on, the police did not resist, and protesters entered the theater premises, standing in the showroom. Along with them, Basha and other opposition representatives stood there.
The Theater debate has started since the beginning of last year, when the government announced the project for its demolition and the construction of a new building after which there is a predetermined project for a high-rise multi-storey building complex that will be built by private company “Fusha.”
The government has constantly insisted that the project has been an unsolicited bid of the Fusha company, claiming it has a share of land ownership, though not more than three percent. But the facts have proven that it has been a previously co-ordinated bid with the government, which initially introduced a special law that was criticized by the European Commission because of the prospect of avoiding an open race. The Socialists then made changes to the law, setting the opening of a race, but it all seemed to have been done on paper alone since no other competitor meets at least the requirement to get the approval of all landowners, as they also need to seek permission by Fusha Sh.P.k.
