Marubi Film School Goes on Strike

TIRANA, March 18 – The Marubi Academy of Film and Multimedia in Tirana announced on Thursday a strike because of a property conflict. The decision came one day after the school was attacked again in a property dispute with government which has been asking the film school to leave the extra premises it occupies since last year. This time’s attack did not come from police but from the owner of an audio-visual company and its administrator who forcefully entered the Marubi premises putting wire in the back part of the Academy which has been surrounded for more than one year pending a court decision. The violent attack happened on Wednesday morning, suspending the classes, said Marubi in a statement.
The school said it could not continue working under psychological and physical pressure.
The Academy’s Rector Kujtim Cashku and students who were shooting the incident were insulted and one of their cameras taken away. Marubi said police was present during the insults made to the students.
The academy says the territory it occupies will be given to another television.
Since last year, the Marubi Film has been asked to free the additional premises government says it occupies including the yard of the Academy which serves as a shooting site and a summer cinema. The Academy’s rector has forcefully refused claiming that the premises have been given to him for 10 years under a government decision in 2005. However, government says Marubi can keep only 200 square metres under the government decision.
“We have never demanded rights on public property, but simply its administration and preservation of its destination,” said Cashku last year.
In February 2009, Marubi staff and students staged a strike and lock-in after police arrested the school’s rector, a professor and three students during violent protests sparked by a property dispute.