Footage from the student protest in Tirana raises serious doubts about the way citizens were confronted and about the identity of the people taking part in law enforcement operations.
Near the “Kafe Flora” area, a protester with the Albanian flag over his shoulders is seen being dragged and struck by several people during the police intervention.
People operating in civilian clothes must be identified. Citizens have the right to know who is using force against them and under what authority.
If they are police employees, their institutional identity, the structure in which they serve and the legal basis for the intervention must be made public. If they are not officers, the authorities must immediately explain their presence and actions.
A person who presents himself as a police officer, but does not identify himself, cannot demand unconditional compliance solely on the basis of claiming to represent the state.
Citizens, protect yourselves from any unlawful aggression, keep your distance, document the violence and demand identification from the people intervening against you.
Interior Minister Ervin Demo cannot pass over this situation with general statements about lowering tensions.
The questions are specific: Who ordered the interventions? Who are the people in civilian clothes? Were legal procedures respected? Who will be held responsible for the unjustified blows against protesters?
The state cannot demand respect for the law from citizens while refusing to account for the way it uses force against them.