TIRANA – Hundreds of citizens joined the rally called by the Alliance for Protection of the Theatre in Tirana on Monday to protest against what they called dictatorship that ordered the demolition of the National Theatre, which was happened on Sunday morning.
While they were protesting, excavators continued to remove rubble from the site reminding that the theatre is gone.
The protest started peacefully attended by actors, civil society representatives and other citizens while media reports said police continued to behave aggressively against a group of young protesters. Political leaders of the opposition among whim heads of Democratic Party and Socialist Movement for Integration, Lulzim Basha and Monika Kryemadhi respectively took part.
A group of human rights organizations condemned the demolition of the theatre, calling it an attack on the cultural and historical identity of the country.
“We regret the situation our country is in today,” said a joint statement signed by 15 organizations representing a wide spectrum of civil society, from Roma and LGBT rights groups to free legal aid groups and media organizations.
“We are seeing elevated state violence and repression. These anti-democratic measures are being undertaken by the government and state institutions at a time when the country lack a proper opposition and a functional juridical system,” the joint statement added.
Activists have called for renewed protests over the shock demolition of old National Theatre in Tirana, which former European Council President Donald Tusk also condemned as “going against the European values of rule of law and dialogue”.
Protesters pledged to continue what they called the fight against the dictatorship which is ruling Albania. /argumentum.al
