Bularat

The Foreign and Civil Protection Ministries have appealed on Greeks planning to attend the funeral of an ethnic Greek who was shot dead by Albanian police last week to show restraint and respect towards his family, according to sources from the two ministries, cited by state-run news agency ANA-MPA.

The funeral of Konstantinos Katsifas, a 35-year-old ethnic Greek fatally shot by Albanian police on October 28, will take place on Thursday in the village of Bularat in southern Albania, after authorities handed his body over to his family on Wednesday.

Albania lodged a new protest with the Greek ambassador to Tirana on Wednesday following several incidents in Greece sparked by the killing of an ethnic Greek gunman by Albanian police at the weekend.  

Two violent incidents have been recorded in Greece allegedly linked to the killing of an ethnic Greek, Kostandinos Kacifa, who was shot dead by Albanian police at the weekend.

The killing of an ethnic Greek by police under unclear circumstances in Albania on Sunday has cast a dark shadow over relations between Tirana and Athens, threatening a rupture reminiscent of the 90s when bilateral relations were at their lowest ebb.

Albanian police said Kostandinos Kacifa, 35, a citizen of Albania and Greece, was shot dead by officers who were attempting to arrest him after he fired on a police patrol in the ethnic Greek-populated village of Bularat in south Albania on Sunday.

The incident happened during celebrations in the village to mark 'Oxi Day', a Greek national holiday.

The killing has caused a strong reaction from Athens.

According to Albanian media, the victim, Konstantinos Katsifas, a 35-yer-old, shot from a Kalashnikov (AK-47) rifle at Albanian police officers who were removing the flag.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Albanian Embassy in the northern Athens suburb of Filothei on Sunday evening to protest the killing earlier in the day of an ethnic Greek man in the village of Bularat, some 6 kilometers from Albania's border with Greece, earlier in the day.

Albanian police shot and killed an ethnic Greek man on Sunday after he opened fire against officers taking down a Greek flag at a World War II cemetery in the village of Bularat, some 6 kilometers from Albania's border with Greece.

Albanian police reportedly shot and killed an ethnic Greek man on Sunday after he opened fire against officers taking down a Greek flag at a World War II cemetery in the village of Bularat, some 6 kilometers from Albania's border with Greece.