| In details:
On Saturday, January 8th, the Interim Steering Committee of the Democratic Party of Albania had called for a peaceful gathering at the premises of the DP headquarters.
Several days prior to this call, members of the Committee and senior party officials including MPs, two former Presidents of the Republic, several former Ministers of Education, Foreign and Internal Affairs, the interim Chairs of the Party Women & Youth forums etc., have been forbidden by force their entry at the party HQ. Journalists and the staff of the official DP newspaper were also forcibly forbidden to access their offices located at party HQ.
Their impossibility to access the party HQ, although some being elected DP representatives, was due to the super armored headquarters, having the protection of numerous police forces at party HQ, all called by former chairman Basha in an attempt to keep by force his party position. Basha has also called the services of armed individuals of muslim brotherhood from North Macedonia (read here past newsletter).
In a media public interview Basha declined these accusations as fake.
The day of the gathering, on Saturday, January 8th, thousands of DP members proved that former chairman Basha lied and that party HQ was indeed super armored by heavy armored structures and by violent mercenaries.
As shown in the video and the pictures below, DP members participating in the gathering, in an effort to access their party HQ, became victim of the disproportionate violence of the mercenaries hired by Basha. Numerous gas-bombs were launched by the later in an illicit manner as they can be deployed only by authorized military & police forces. Some of these individuals are criminals sentenced for murder and drug trafficking. Pepper sprays, baseball sticks and chairs were also used from within to hurt and distress party membership present in the gathering (video here and here).
At the moment the heavy armoured structures impeding the access to the party HQ became obsolete, barricaded former chairman Basha called for help to police forces to repress his party membership gathering.
Rama’s police forces engaged in a large-scale disproportionate aggression within the premises of the party HQ, using water-canons, tear gas, pepper spray and sticks. Although police forces were not target of any threat, they attacked the participants with the clear objective to support the party HQ barricade and Basha’s forced seizure. Media crews were subject of the same disproportional use of force (video here). Dozens of party members suffered injuries or health complications, and are currently in hospitals, as shown in the pictures below. Another dozen of party members were arrested without any justification, and solely for their act of being present in the gathering at their party HQ.
Media close to Rama diverted the facts in a biased manner with the objective to cover the violence suffered by opposition members at their party HQ. Some international media relayed these local news outlets in an untrue manner.
The objective of the gathering called by the Interim Steering Committee didn’t relate to the party HQ, but to accelerate the reshuffling process of the party following eight years of consecutive electoral defeats and the dismissal of former chairman Basha.
The Committee interprets the Rama-Basha pact and their cooperation as a danger for the Albanian political pluralism. The Committee calls for new political actions and protests defending political parties’ right and freedom to self-organisation, outside any interference from state authorities and the executive branch. It also points to all private and political actors involved in large-scale corruption affairs, in the media censoring, and in the bribery of opposition representatives. Albanian political freedoms must be preserved. |
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