Two police officials suspended following public pressure, ombudsman’s request for investigation
TIRANA, May 5 – A police official in the northeastern city of Kukes has been suspended from duty after he was caught on camera loading a handgun, threatening and cursing at a group of people who were demonstrating against the government’s efforts to collect overdue power bills.
The protesters had been denied a permit to hold a rally on Monday, but decided to protest anyway and aimed to partially close the main highway linking Albania and Kosovo, the protesters and police said.
One of the suspended police officers, identified only through his initials in an official police statement, was in civilian clothes at the time and did not appear under physical threat from the protesters, based on footage of the scene.
He is seen loading his handgun and telling the protesters, “back off or I will f**k you up.”
Several cameras from mainstream media outlets caught the entire incident and showed a largely peaceful protest with a few small clashes as police moved to arrest the organizers.
The police said the rally was illegal, because it had denied a permit due to not having enough police officers to guard the peace, as there was a political event in the city at the time. It added the officer acted that way out of fear the protesters would take his gun away.
Police said it arrested one of the organizers, Nderim Lushi, who had applied for the permit and been denied.
Lushi is seen on camera being dragged on the dirt several meters by the police, placed into a van and one officer appears to be punching him once inside.
Ombudsman Igli Totozani called the footage “shocking” and urged authorities to investigate. The Albanian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organization, also issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the violence.
Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri said Tuesday morning the officers had been suspended pending a proper investigation.
“Despite the fact that the protest by several citizens was illegal and violent, the state police officer has been suspended until there is a full investigation on whether his actions were legal and whether the proper procedures were followed,” Tahiri said in statement.
Kukes is one of Albania’s poorest areas and the hot spot of the recent migration and asylum seeking wave toward several EU states.
This was the latest in a series of protests by its citizens who have asked for debt forgiveness by the state-owned power company over accumulated power bills, part of the government’s rule of law drive.
They say they are too poor to pay bills accumulated over the years. Kukes had the worst power payment record of all the regions of Albania before the government launched its campaign to collect the bills last year.
This a web news update. Read more in Friday’s print edition.
