OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Greek newspaper Kathimerini: Two buses left Athens for Zvërnec for Saturday's protest!

2026-06-01 13:51:06Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Greek newspaper Kathimerini: Two buses left Athens for Zvërnec for

The meeting with representatives of the Zvërnec association in Athens was scheduled about a week ago at the initiative of the Albanian side, with the aim of "resolving the misunderstanding" about the planned $4 billion tourism investment north of their village.

The attempt to approach was made after a barbed wire fence was placed on the Albanian coast. On Saturday, during a gathering of residents in that area, serious incidents occurred, where a protester was beaten.

The siege blocked access to beaches and land once farmed by local residents – land over whose ownership they have been waging legal battles for years. For the local community, the fence was a “show of force” by business interests. They had low expectations for the planned meeting in Athens.

Late last Wednesday afternoon, about ten immigrants from Zvërnec welcomed the mayor of Vlora, an assistant to her, and two lawyers from the investors' side in Ilion, Attica. According to residents, the conversation lasted about two hours, but did not bring any results.

It was already known that they planned to protest on Saturday, May 30, in front of the fence, and the other side wanted to soften their reactions.

"Their goal was to prevent a protest from taking place. They told us they wanted to protect us, so that no incident would occur," Alexandros Poulas, who attended that meeting, told the newspaper Kathimerini.

More than 300 people took part in Saturday's protest. Two buses left Athens on Friday evening, while other participants traveled from various cities in Greece in their own vehicles.

“When we approached the fence, we left the protesters about ten meters behind and together with the village head, Kostas Konomi, we spoke with the police chief,” says Mr. Poulas.

According to him, they asked to cross the fence, protest for about 15 minutes inside the blocked area, and then leave. It would be a symbolic action.

"We weren't going in to destroy. Nothing had been built in the area yet and there was no working machinery," he emphasizes.

However, behind the fence, men dressed in black, without identification marks, who appeared to be members of a private security company, had gathered. According to residents’ testimonies, some of them were threatening them, filming them on their phones and carrying rubber batons. “They were there just to scare us,” says Mr. Poulas.

As seen in videos that later circulated online, one of the protesters stopped in a part where there was no fence, but only barbed wire.

He climbed onto the wires and spoke to the policemen.

The videos show men without identification marks forcibly pulling him, hitting him, and dragging him on the ground for dozens of meters, while the police do not intervene.

Only after the participants protested did two Albanian police officers intervene and bring the injured man closer to them.

After initially being taken to the Vlora hospital, he left Albania and was transported to the Ioannina hospital, from where he was released on Sunday. The Greek Foreign Ministry submitted a note of protest to the Albanian government over the injury of the Greek citizen.

In a post on the X network, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared that the investment is "an excellent project for Albania, which has been developing for years and has nothing to do with the big lies that have been circulating in recent days."

He also congratulated the police leaders "for their quick and accurate response, both to this mindless gang with the status of private security guards, and to the local Vlora police leaders."

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, has expressed interest in investing in this area for years. Last January, he visited the beaches near Zvërnec and the Narta lagoon with his wife, Ivanka Trump, accompanied by architects and businessmen.

The fencing and initial road works in the area are being carried out by Zvërnec South Adriatic Development. Kushner's name does not appear in the company's documents and, according to reports, it is linked to an offshore company in the Netherlands. A wide network of companies seems to be involved in this investment, with the participation of businessmen from Albania.

Before the incidents, a lawyer representing the investors and who attended the Athens meeting spoke to the newspaper "Kathimerini".

He described the meeting with the Zvërnec migrants as "friendly" and argued that the main purpose of the perimeter fence was "to guarantee public safety, as active construction sites pose risks to people who are not trained and do not have the necessary equipment."

In a new statement, the Zvërnec South Adriatic Development company announced that it is terminating cooperation with the private security company following Saturday's incidents.

At least one arrest has been made for the beating of the protester. A massive protest was held in Tirana yesterday against the investment.

The residents of Zvërnec emphasize that they are not against investment or development, but demand respect for the environment and a legal resolution to the issue of ownership of their lands before the project can proceed.

Mr. Poulas says that after the incidents there was an immediate reaction from the Greek consular authorities and from MEP Fredi Beleri.

For the same issue, protests have been held in Tirana and Vlora in recent weeks by environmental organizations, which express concern about the damage to the protected area near the Narta lagoon. / Taken from the Greek newspaper  Kathimerini , adapted into Albanian by VoxNews


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×