Albanian police

Data from the Macedonian, Albanian and Montenegrin police now paint a relatively accurate picture of former prime minister Nikola Gruevski's escape route through the Balkans to Hungary to avoid serving a two-year prison sentence.

Greece has urged Albania to abstain from actions that fuel tension in bilateral relations after the Foreign Ministry in Tirana labeled 52 Greek nationals personae non gratae and banned them from entering the Balkan country.

The 52 were among hundreds who attended the funeral on Thursday of an ethnic Greek who was fatally shot in a gun battle with Albanian police last month.

Albania said Friday that 52 Greek nationals who turned out for the funeral of a dual Albanian-Greek citizen who was fatally shot in a gun battle with Albanian police during an annual celebration are considered "personae non gratae" and would not be allowed to enter the country again.

Twelve Greeks detained on Thursday by Albanian authorities at a police station in the town of Gjirokaster before the funeral of an ethnic Greek were released early Friday morning, state-run news agency ANA-MPA said.

Several hundred Greeks, some of them holding anti-Albanian and anti-Macedonian insignia, attended the funeral of Kostandinos Kacifa on Thursday in the village of Bularat in southern Albania, hailing him a national hero.

Media reported that several buses and other vehicles traveled from different towns and cities in Greece across the border to Albania.

Hundreds of Greeks have turned out for the funeral of a dual Albanian-Greek citizen who was fatally shot in a gun battle with Albanian police during an annual celebration.

The funeral of an ethnic Greek who was shot dead by Albanian police last week got underway at the village of Bularat in southern Albania, with numerous people travelling from Greece in busses to attend the service.

The death of 35-year-old Konstantinos Katsifas has flared up tensions between Tirana and Athens.

Two Greeks have reportedly been arrested in Albania for the possession of clothes sporting paramilitary symbols and slogans that fuel hate, according to Albanian news portal Faxweb.

The news comes a few hours before the funeral of 35-year-old Konstantinos Katsifas in the village of Bularat in southern Albania, who was shot dead by Albanian police last week.

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.