Prime Minister Edi Rama apologizes over posting false information
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TIRANA, March 21 - Prime Minister Edi Rama made a public apology on Saturday for posting false information regarding a video showing police forces being violent towards anti-government protesters in Algeria. Earlier, Rama had claimed that the video showed Spanish police being violent towards citizens who had broken the COVID-19 curfew, but the Thurje Initative (Hashtag Initiative) debunked Rama's statement by proving that the video in fact showed protesters in Algeria.
On Saturday evening, Rama took to Facebook to apologize for the video after the reactions. "I posted it unintentionally after my message today, where I told you openly that there would be no tolerance by the law enforcement and now I found out that it happened in Algeria! I sincerely apologize for the unintentional inaccuracy that inspired yet another statement of the Democratic Party's stupid accusations! I once again fell victim to the 'digital citizen'," he wrote.
Rama had posted the video with the intent to warn citizens that the police would use high pressure water and tear gas against them if they violated the curfew imposed by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19. However, the PM did not mention that he would take the warning back in his apology.
The video posted by Rama incited many reactions, including those of the Ambassador of Spain in Albania as well as Italian television program ' Le Iene'. Commenting on the PM's post, the Spanish Ambassador stated that he "felt sorry that several images were distributed that have nothing to do with Spain."
'Le Iene' also pointed out that the PM had posted false information, writing that "to urge citizens to stay home after authorities have adopted restrictive control measures, Rama has posted a video on Facebook that has both the scent of fake news but also that of a threat. "
This is not the first time that the Prime Minister has been under fire for posting false information. Earlier in August 2019, Rama published a statement by actress Ilire Vinca from Kosovo supporting the government's National Theatre concession project. The latter said that it was a "misunderstanding" and that her opinion was taken out of context, but the Prime Minister stated that Vinca must have changed her mind.
