Flash News

Gjykojeni protestën nga kundërshtarët

Aksident në Greqi, ndërron jetë 16-vjeçari shqiptar

Protesta trazon PS-në/ Zegjineja e ‘meme-ve’ sulmon influenceren: Shëmtirë, diote. Balla kapet me Reuters

Vrasja në Paskuqan/ Autori është gjurmuar deri në Bovillë, ka braktisur mjetin

Publikoi tezën e Letërsisë 20 minuta pas nisjes së provimit, përjashtohet maturanti në Kukës

KRYESORE

Opposition supporters try to damage election administration property

Politiko 20 Qershor 2019, 17:21

Opposition supporters try to damage election administration property

Opposition supporters and municipal officials tried on Wednesday to forcibly empty the public premises used by the Commissions of Election Administration Zones (CEAZs) in municipalities led by opposition Mayors, such as Kavaja, Vora, Kamza, Burrel, Klos, Kukës, Pogradec, Bilisht, Gjirokastra, Berat, and Skrapar. They claimed this was to enforce the disputed presidential decree canceling the date of the local government elections.

The election materials were burned publicly at three locations and several police officers and protesters were injured, whereas the police used teargas to occasionally disperse the protesters. The clashes resumed in the late afternoon in Kavaja, where the protesters tore down a section of a school building’s iron fence, in an effort to break into the CEAZ hosted in those premises. Police responded with tear gas and the crowd threw flares and stones back at them, with the clashes lasting well into the night.

The State Police said on Tuesday afternoon to have arrested 12 individuals, declared wanted 20, accompanied to police commissariats 29, and prosecuted at their own recognizance seven individuals in regards to the violent attacks against the CEAZs’ headquarters. T

he State Police said that 14 CEAZs had been attacked and damaged and that, in many cases, the municipal officials and municipal police officers played a key role in these incidents. As stated by the Police, five of the arrested individuals were responsible for setting on fire two nights ago the “Shejnaze Juka” High School in Shkodra, which serves as the CEAZ no. 3 headquarters. The State Police said that the above are charged with arson, intentional damaging of electoral materials, resisting and disobeying police officers, hitting public officials because of duty, and threatening public officials because of duty.

Minister of Interior Sandër Lleshaj said in a press conference on Wednesday that a number of municipal police forces would be dissolved, in view of what he said were the criminal acts perpetrated through the attacks against the CEAZs headquarters. He said that these municipal police forces had clearly exceeded their original mission and turned into a public threat.

The opposition-held municipalities reacted to Interior Minister’s announcement, saying that this unprecedented act would only deepen the coup d’état currently underway and the constitutional violations aimed at capturing the municipalities’ powers. In another press statement, the opposition-held municipalities said they would submit a criminal lawsuit against the CEAZ commissioners and the State Police for refusing to abide by the presidential decree canceling the date of local elections. They were charged with resisting a public official because of duty and abuse of power.

Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Wednesday the passing of legislation to ban travel to the European Union countries and the United States of those who commit electoral crimes, such as the attack on a CEAZ headquarters. In a meeting with a group of Socialist Party (SP) supporters in Tirana, he said that the Assembly would review the said Criminal Code amendments in its today’s plenary sitting.

In a reaction to Rama’s announcement, Democratic Party Deputy Chair Edmond Spaho said that, after leaving the Albanian people without courts and justice, the PM was now threatening them to deprive them of the right to travel abroad, which was gained after much toil and sacrifices.

Spaho said that Rama was allegedly trying to keep power and protect at any cost the money he had stolen, adding he would not escape the reach of justice. The other DP Deputy Chair, Edi Paloka, said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that, through its latest actions, the SP had officially turned into a criminal gang that needed to be ousted from power as soon as possible.