TIRANA, April 18 – The opposition’s Democratic Party said on Tuesday through a media statement that the police physically violated the residents of the suburban ‘Bregu i Lumit’ (Riverbank) area in Tirana again this week.
A photo distributed in the media also depicted a moment of violent confrontation between former Democratic MP Klevis Balliu with police forces.
According to the DP, this is another proof that the police have exerted violence against residents as well as the former MPs who went to support the citizens’ claims for fair compensation.
On Wednesday morning, the Inspectorate for Territorial Protection agents went again at the Bregu i Lumit area, aiming to demolish the homes of the local residents, where they clashed again with residents, as it was also reported by the DP.
DP representatives also noted that some phones with which the event was shot were sequestered by police, yet the footage made its way to the DP, which considered the police action against the phone-carrying-girl rude and violent.
Dozens of police forces have been going at the Bregu i Lumit area on Monday and Tuesday in support of Territorial Inspectors to demolish some houses which stand on the way of a new boulevard being built in the capital, mainly built on the side of the river.
Police forces joined the demolition process because residents have protested the municipality’s decision, claiming they have not been given fair compensation.
Last week, Albanian President Ilir Meta also expressed concern over the demolition of several houses in the capital’s Bregu i Lumit area and over the physical rows between protesting residents and police forces since the beginning of last week.
Meta said through an official statement that the intervention of public authorities was beyond any kind of logic, while police forces’ intrusion inside residents’ houses brutal and completely non-professional.
“The time of intervention to get citizens out of their houses and the way of action seem not like a state logic, but like a sneaky method that does not reflect any legitimate support,” Meta wrote.
