TIRANA, May 8 – Former Democratic lawmaker Klevis Balliu was held in custody after being escorted to the capital’s Police Station’s No. 6 for organizing illegal gatherings, blocking traffic and violent opposition to police forces.
The former MP joined Astir area residents, who have been protesting for a few months against the new Ring Road project, which foresees the demolition of dozens of buildings, houses and businesses, a big part of which without permit.
Residents blocked the road on Tuesday as Prime Minister Edi Rama was scheduled to visit a business in the area. The situation became tense when police forces intervened to remove the residents. Balliu was escorted to the station along with several protesters, four of whom were released in the afternoon.
Leaders of the DP gathered in front of the station to demand Balliu and the escorted residents be released while DP Secretary General Gazmend Bardhi accused the police of acting on the basis of political orders.
“The head of the Tirana Police on Edi Rama’s political order attempts to intimidate citizens in flagrant violations of the law. They are fabricating evidence and facts on Edi Rama’s political order to keep innocent citizens, including opposition MP Klevis Balliu to the police,” Bardhi said.
Paloka also blamed the police for the violence that he said was directed against the protesters. “They have attacked citizens like beasts, violating them with gas, fuel, and everything they could. They have taken men and women and threw them into police vans and are now inside, where they are held without any rights, contrary to the law, but also to human rights. This is how this government operates. Let Rama and anyone else know they will receive the deserved answer. The more they add to violence and repression, the stronger the citizen response will be,” Paloka declared.
The DP also published the confession of a protester who was admitted to the hospital, who accused police forces of abusing and spilling gas over his body. causing burns in various parts.
For its part, the police said through a statement distributed in the evening that “during the illegal rally held today at noon on the main road axis in the area of ”‹”‹the New Ring Road, a group of protesters have used hard objects, injuring four police officers, three from “Eagle” forces and one from the Rapid Intervention Force, who are receiving medical help at Trauma Hospital in Tirana.
DP leader Lulzim Basha reacted from Shkodra concerning Balliu’s arrest.
“It is the day when Rama wants political prisoners to make a comeback, using the police to violate citizens against the law. I tell you clearly: your hours are numbered. We never accept the law to act with double standards, to honor and protect traffickers of girls and women, drug traffickers, and to violate honest citizens, honest business, those who protect their property and their homes,” Basha.
Astir residents are accusing the government of not granting them fair compensation for the houses it is demolishing under the pretext they have built them illegally.
