A video posted on social media by MP Agron Shehaj has renewed attention on the way protesters are being escorted in Tirana. The footage shows several people detained by officers from the “Shqiponja” forces, including a female protester who repeatedly asks for her phone so she can notify her family.
Footage published after the protest
The video was published after the 94th protest in Tirana, which, according to the footage and reporting from the scene, was accompanied by tensions and clashes between protesters and police.
At the center of the video is the moment when a female protester is being escorted by police and asks to be given her mobile phone. She can be heard asking to notify her sister because of her mother’s health condition.
The protester’s request to officers
In the video, the protester says: “Give me the phone so I can notify my sister. I’m telling you my mom is sick, I want to notify my sister. Now, because she will worry.”
She then says that her mother has a “mental health diagnosis” and warns that if she sees her on television being escorted, the situation could become even more serious for her family.
Accusations and tension during the escort
In the same footage, the protester is also heard saying: “Because Ervini gave the order. Give me the phone, I want it now, I’m not doing anything.” The video does not provide further clarification as to whom she is referring with this name or under what circumstances the order she mentions was given.
The fact that communication with family members appeared to be requested at the moment of the escort raises questions about how procedures are being managed on the ground, especially during police interventions at high-tension protests.
Another protester also seen in the footage
The video also shows another protester being escorted by law enforcement. He is heard saying: “I was on the ground, I was in bad shape. Communist regime. Your days are numbered.”
The footage published so far shows only part of the episode and does not provide a complete picture of the circumstances that led to the escorts. At this stage, the police version of the specific moment captured in the video is not reflected in this footage.
The publication of the video has added to debates over police intervention at protests and the treatment of people being escorted, particularly when it comes to the right to contact family members.
Beyond the political rhetoric that usually accompanies such events, what remains at the center are images of a tense escort, where the basic request to notify family itself becomes a public issue.