In Albania, the mayor of Lezha, Pjerin Ndreu, has been sued by the employees of a police patrol because, according to them, he intervened by preventing the escort of the owner of a hotel who refused to turn off the music beyond the allowed time. Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke about a mistake of the mayor. But the latter in a reaction today used harsh and insulting language towards the police officers, who according to him had been exceeding their competencies.
Three police officers operating in the Shengjin area did not accept the intervention of the mayor of Lezha, Pjerin Ndreu, while a few nights ago they tried to escort the owner of a hotel to the police station, who refused their request to turn off the music in the bar, after the allowed time was exceeded. In the lawsuit they filed with the Prosecutor’s Office, they stated that Mr. Ndreu stated that he was “the one who made the laws and decided on them”. In the conditions when, according to the report, the staff of the bar had started to push the police officers and stop them, the latter were forced to withdraw so as not to aggravate the situation.
Asked today about this fact, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the socialist mayor had made a mistake and had to respond legally: “When it comes to insulting the Police, no one has the right, and no one can easily throw it away without facing the law. He made a lot of mistakes and must be held accountable for the mistake he made, legally”.
But on the contrary, Mr. Ndreu does not think he was wrong. On the contrary, with an arrogant and vulgar voice, in a Facebook reaction he talks about “belly cops who overstep their authority and commit acts contrary to the law”. He further adds that “as the head of the local government, I have a duty to take a stand when the police exceed the measure and commit violent acts”. But in fact no law gives him the power to intervene to thwart the actions of the police. If they have been exceeded, it is other bodies that evaluate such a thing, and not a mayor who undertakes to solve everything himself, preventing the escort of a person to the police station. Moreover, he admits that he was at a dinner party, despite the fact that it was official, beyond the schedule, to allow circulation imposed by anti-COVID rules.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said during the press conference in support of police officers when he said that “I would be worried if the police or the relevant structures had not followed the legal path”.
But in fact it seems that the initiative to file a report was personal to the police officers, because according to local media, the leading structures of the Lezha police, have sided with the mayor, and have launched an investigation against them for “Serious violation of attributes of police competencies ”.
