Dozens of young people detained during student protests in Albania’s capital were filmed lying on the floor of a crowded police station room, some with their hands apparently tied, in footage circulated on Thursday.
Many have barely room to move, and several look like teenagers.
The protests, now on their third day, began over poor university conditions and have grown into calls for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign, joining a broader anti-government movement.
Balkanweb, a major online news site, that published the footage, reported that the detainees were being held without basic sanitation or anywhere to rest.
The outlet described the conditions as a serious breach of human rights standards and of the rules on holding detainees, particularly minors.
Exit.al has not independently verified where or when the videos were filmed.
Gazment Bardhi, parliamentary leader of the opposition Democratic Party, was among the first to share the footage.
He called it “inhuman treatment” and “a serious crime” and urged child protection organisations and the Albanian Helsinki Committee to intervene urgently to document how high school and university students are being treated in police custody.
As of publication, the State Police had not commented publicly on the footage from inside its stations.
Allegations of plainclothes abduction-style arrests
Footage published on the Instagram account of the online news platform Vataninews appears to show a female protester being forced into an unmarked car.
Speaking on the private broadcaster News24, prominent Albanian journalist Ferdinand Dervishi described the scene: “Four strong men grab a woman and throw her into the car. They are in plain clothes and the car is unmarked. It looks like an outright abduction, with no one identifying themselves.”
Dervishi claimed that on the previous evening, after the protest had ended, plainclothes men in civilian cars went out to round up teenagers.
He alleged that detainees, among them a 16-year-old, were beaten inside police stations, out of sight of cameras, and described the units involved as a “political police” made up of party loyalists planted inside the force. Exit.al could not independently confirm these claims.
The Albanian news site Lapsi.al published footage from a street near the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Tirana, showing large numbers of police stopping young people as they walked back to their dormitories.
Police: “Children are no one’s shield”
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, which did not address the custody footage, the State Police said a considerable number of minors had taken part in recent protests. In some cases, it said, children had been found on the front line of clashes, exposed to violence, thrown objects and crowd-control measures.
Police said any suspected case of minors being incited, organised or exploited for unlawful acts would be documented and referred to the relevant authorities, and urged parents to know where their children are.
Education Minister Mirela Kumbaro also appealed to parents not to let their children become victims.
Mass detentions
The number of people detained has risen every day since the protests began on Tuesday. After Tuesday’s clashes outside the Education Ministry, police said 16 protesters had been arrested and 49 others were under investigation.
On Wednesday evening, 70 people were reportedly being held at Police Station No. 1 alone. By Thursday, more than 80 people had been taken to police stations over the previous day’s protest.
The head of the State Police suspended four officers and a station’s public order chief after a video emerged showing officers roughly carrying a 19-year-old with a broken leg. News24 reported that the student had undergone surgery after initial reports said he was in a coma.
Violence on both sides
The protests have also seen serious violence against police and property. Protesters have thrown stones and petrol bombs, and police have responded with tear gas and water cannons.
On Wednesday, dozens of protesters scaled the fence of a police station, damaged property in the compound and set a police car on fire.
On Thursday in Shkodër, Albania’s largest northern city, police commander Fasli Rama was struck on the head and taken into surgery at the Trauma Hospital.
State Police Director General Skënder Hita said the protest was a constitutional right, but violence would not be tolerated, adding that the violence had come from other participants, not students.
The EU Delegation in Tirana strongly condemned the escalating violence and destruction of property, urged protesters to show restraint, and said constructive dialogue was the only way to address legitimate concerns.
Background
The protests began on Tuesday outside the Education Ministry. Students called for the departure of what they described as a political class that has held power for 35 years, along with better infrastructure and living conditions and the resignations of the education minister and Prime Minister Edi Rama.
By Thursday, the third day, thousands of university and Tirana high school students had taken to the streets, and a plenary session of Parliament was cancelled.
The student movement has since merged with the wider anti-government “Flamingo Revolution", which is demanding Rama’s resignation over corruption allegations and opposing a luxury development at Zvërnec linked to Jared Kushner.
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