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Toll road sparks civil unrest in Albania

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Nation Highway toll road protests turn violent, protesters clash with police

TIRANA, March 31 – The protests against the first toll road in the Nation Highway connecting Albania to Kosovo introduced by Prime Minister Edi Rama last week turned violent Saturday morning, with protesters clashing with police and setting the tolls on fire.

Protesters told local media it was police that aggravated what started as a peaceful protest.

“We hadn’t planned anything and the protest was peaceful, but the police made the situation tense,” one anonymous protester said.

Hundreds of protesters came from the Kukes area, one of the poorest regions in Albania concerned over this road tax bringing isolation unless tax incentives are provided to them, and were also joined by protesters coming from neighboring Kosovo.

After clashing with police forces, which later withdrew and stayed at a distance, protesters set the tolls on fire and reportedly kept firefighters from putting them off.

Local media reported the clashes resulted in several injured police officers and protesters, while the protest blocked traffic in the area for hours, with lines of vehicles extending to ten kilometers from the border crossing to the tolls.

In a Facebook statement, Rama wrote that “the barbarian violence on common property and the violent reaction against police forces in Kukes will receive the appropriate reaction,” for what he called “a crime towards lawful investment.”

Opposition’s Democratic Party (DP) leader Lulzim Basha, on the other hand, said in a press conference minutes after the protest ended that “this was the revolutionary voice against the nation’s mockery and extortion through taxes for politicians’ benefit.”

Basha called on Rama to remove the toll road tax and tell police forces to “stop violence against protesters.”

The pay toll price – which ranges from €2.5-€22.5 depending on the vehicle – brought concern amid local communities, private businesses and even experts fearing the country’s first toll road  will have a negative impact on the poor Northern Albanian households as well as trade and tourism flows between the two ethnic Albanian neighboring countries.

Police arrests toll road protesters, drawing criticism, further protests

The protest started on Saturday against the country’s first-ever toll road  in the Nation Highway of Kalimash moved Sunday morning in front of the Kukes Police Station, where around 24 protesters were arrested and detained with accusations for violence against police forces.

According to protesters, police forces entered their houses to arrest participators during the night, after cutting electricity off in the entire area, and reportedly acted violently towards them.

“They came in wearing masks and treated us like criminals,” several citizens standing outside the police station told local media.

Opposition’s Democratic Party (DP) and Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) MPs also traveled to Kukes on Sunday to meet the head of the Kukes Police, while protesters said the arrested have been transported to Tirana.

“All the arrested have been taken to Tirana, and they’ve made a show out of them. I spoke with my son, and he told me they sent them to the capital,” one anonymous protester said.

In this context, protesters have been calling for the release of those arrested, otherwise, they warned, protests will continue on a larger scale.

At his press conference on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Edi Rama said “the police maintained its professionalism against a bunch of vandals who will be punished accordingly.”

He added an informative campaign will take place in the following days, as, according to him, the protest against the toll road  was a result of public opinion manipulation and people are disregarding the tax incentives foreseen for citizens’ crossing the Nation Highway more frequently than others.

Edmond Spaho, head of the DP parliamentary group and part of the MPs who visited Kukes on Sunday, asked for the arrests to stop so that the situation doesn’t escalate.

“During the night, as if in a dictatorship, 24 people were arrested and just as many arrest warrants were issued,” Spaho told local media.

According to him, the head of the Kukes police ‘betrayed’ protesters, who only stopped the protest yesterday under the condition no one would be arrested.

“We asked the chief to stop this climate, to release the arrested sent to Tirana and to follow the way of dialogue. If we continue like this the situation may escalate,” Spaho said.

Protests continue in Tirana as supporters seek release of arrested protesters

A dozen of the arrested protesters’ family members, as well as Kukes and Tirana citizens and civil society representatives, continued to protest in front of Tirana’s police headquarters for the arrested being kept there to be released.

Protesters, civil society and human rights defenders were holding signs reading ‘Down with Dictatorship’ and ‘Free our Brothers.’

Opposition MPs – mainly from the Democratic Party (DP) and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) – and followers also joined the protest, which became tense when some opposition MPs tried to enter police headquarters to meet the arrested on Monday.

Head of the opposition’s DP Lulzim Basha said the country’ general prosecution office is acting as a “political investigation unit” in Prime Minister Edi Rama’s service.

“We ask for the immediate release of the illegally abducted Kukes citizens, who were taken without an arrest warrant, under the penal act of illegally taking someone’s freedom away,” Basha said.

In this context, both him and head of SMI Monika Kryemadhi called for civil disobedience as, according to them, all other democratic methods of opposing the government’s “autocratic” decisions have been exhausted.

According to Basha, civil disobedience means to “refuse every concessionary tax and tax raise. The tax on small businesses, the raised taxes on water consumption, the raised property tax and all other taxes raised to fill the pockets of Edi Rama and his band of co-rulers.”

A police statement released said it has officially arrested 23 people, while another dozen is wanted for clashing with police and vandalizing public property.


Arrested protesters face judges behind closed doors in tense civil, political situation

The court process of the arrested took place in Tirana on Wednesday, amid tension among politicians and citizens, because the Kukes court is reportedly “too small to fit all 23 arrested.”

The court session took place behind closed doors, yet information leaked by opposition MPs inside the courtroom and in particular by opposition’s Democratic Party (DP) leader Lulzim Basha.

The prosecution decided for 11 out of the 23 arrested to be imprisoned, five to be kept under house arrest, while seven others to be present in court.

Basha posted on Facebook a soundbite where the attorney of one of the eleven people facing imprisonment charges can be heard saying he was protesting because of his minimal income.

“He went out to protest because he has nothing to eat, not even a bag of flour. I am saying this in front of the court. I am representing these clients as a volunteer, without any interests or money involved. Because they have nothing to feed on. Because i have witnessed injustice. This injustice should be addressed by the judicial body. Detention is illegal,” the lawyer said.

Basha called the extreme measures taken for the normal progress of the court session a “political order against transparency.”

Around 1,000 police officials engaged in making sure the session progresses normally, yet were unable to avoid tensions on Wednesday morning.

While a big number of citizens and civil society representatives gathered on the other side of the court, DP MPs were at first not allowed to enter the court.

DP MP Edmond Spaho appeared scarred as he spoke to the media, saying “if they clash with citizens, they will clash with us as well. Police forces exercised violence. Violence will not get Edi Rama far.”

Opposition protests block major roads, Rama backs down on toll

The opposition’s civil disobedience protests began on Thursday morning in four different areas in the country, blocking the main national roads of Vora, Elbasan, Lushnje and Milot, where the road coming from Kosovo connects with the Shkodra highway and leads to Tirana.

In Milot, the protest began clashing with police, which at first asked that the road does not become blocked, but later retreated.

Thursday’s protests came only days after the opposition’s Democratic Party (DP) and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) called for civil disobedience against Rama’s imposed taxes.

Opposition representatives, however, said the protest is organized by citizens themselves, and that the opposition is only supporting protesters.

Captured sitting among protesters at Vora’s road segment, opposition leader Lulzim Basha said “the protest is legitimate. What’s illegitimate is the state’s criminal privatization by Edi Rama. This is a state the imprisons the people and frees criminals. We will never ask permission for a legitimate protest.”

Yet, a statement released by the police on Wednesday said it had not been notified concerning the protest, thus deeming it illegal and stressing the protest’s organizers will face the law for any unpredictable outcome.

In this context, speaking in Thursday’s parliamentary session, Rama said the government was not prepared for the psychological effects this novelty could have on uninformed citizens.

“We will not begin the toll collection system without providing the best possible solution for the area’s citizens,” Rama told the parliament.

 

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