Albanian rights group warns against police use of force at protest

TIRANA: An Albanian rights group on Saturday warned against what it called disproportionate police force at a protest over a resort linked to US president Donald Trump’s family.

Protests began in late May against the planned construction of a luxury hotel linked to Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner in a nature reserve on the country’s southwestern coast.

Opposition to the project has become a flashpoint for frustrations over perceived corruption, with demands now including the resignation of prime minister Edi Rama.

The protests are held daily in the capital Tirana, while on Thursday morning for the second time this week, demonstrators gathered outside parliament to confront lawmakers and block entry to the building.

Police used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannon to break up hundreds of demonstrators, some of whom tried to push through lines of officers, threw eggs, stones and other objects.

Fifteen police officers were injured, while 25 demonstrators were detained, according to the police.

The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) in a statement obtained by AFP on Saturday voiced “concern about the escalation of the situation” at the protest.

“Individual violence cannot justify the disproportionate use of force” by the police, it said.

“The protest was mostly peaceful and isolated violence could not be attributed to all protesters,” the watchdog said.

It said the police had used tear gas without warning and unnecessary force including batons and punches against neutralised protesters on the ground.

“It is unacceptable and requires an immediate, independent and effective investigation,” it added.

Thursday’s violence was a marked contrast to the overwhelmingly peaceful daily gatherings that have drawn thousands on to the streets since the movement began.

The planned resort was first unveiled in 2024, but the latest wave of protests began after barbed-wire fencing and bulldozers appeared on beaches in late May.