Kavaja mayor arrested, freed following football match incident

TIRANA, March 12 – The Kavaja district court on Tuesday released from detention Mayor Elvis Roshi, who was arrested Sunday following a conflict he had with the coach of a visiting football team.
Roshi was accused of slapping Tirana coach Nevil Dede after the latter allegedly offended Kavaja fans in a league match between the two clubs.
Following the incident, that was said to have occurred in during the break, police had to confront some groups of fans asking for Roshi’s release. Some fans were also arrested after physically clashing with special force policemen brought from capital Tirana.
Roshi was transferred to a Tirana police station where he stayed until Tuesday.
Roshi is elected as mayor two years ago and represents the opposition Socialist Party.
Opposition lawmakers accused the government of turning the case into a political issue.
Governing Democrats’ leader and Prime Minister Sali Berisha is a lawmaker for Kavaja.
Leader of the opposition Socialists Edi Rama first said that Roshi should apologize if he has really slapped the Tirana coach. But also added that was not something which should be exploited by police to arrest an elected official.
Roshi himself also directly accused Interior Minister Flamur Noka for ordering the arrest. Noka denied it.
The football federation set fines for the two clubs as result of the incidents related to the match.