Albanian police

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.

Albanian authorities have agreed to hand over the body of Konstantinos Katsifas, a 35-year-old ethnic Greek fatally shot by police in southern Albania on October 28, the family's lawyer has said.

It is expected that authorities in Albania will release Katsifas's body to his relatives by Tuesday, lawyer Efthimios Navridis told ANT1 television on Monday.

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.  

Former Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos said police should have the right to shoot anyone wielding a gun, during a radio interview on Thursday.

His comment came during a discussion on the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old ethnic Greek man by police in southern Albania on Sunday.

Police in northern Greece have set off tear gas and flash grenades during a rally to protest the fatal police shooting of a man in Albania.

Albanian police shot Greek-Albanian dual citizen Constantinos Katsifas over the weekend, saying he opened fire on officers at an ethnic Greek village.

A 35-year-old Greek man who was fatally shot by Albanian police in southern Albania last Sunday was not fired at from close range, according to a lawyer representing the victim's relatives.

In comments to reporters after talking to a Greek coroner who examined the body, the lawyer Konstantinos Giovanopoulos said that the 35-year-old was shot twice in the chest.

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.