Protestants

The home of the head of Albanian football's governing body, Armando Duka, in the coastal town of Durres was targeted with explosives on Monday evening, causing damage but no casualties.

Police said on Monday night that the explosive device was placed at the gate of his apartment and that "an investigative unit is working to clarify the circumstances of the event".

The Albanian Football Federation, FSHF, the country's football governing body, has accused Erion Veliaj, Socialist Party Mayor of Tirana, of using threats against board members ahead of a vote for the head of the Federation.

After three sessions, the Constitutional Court in Tirana has suspended the legal initiatives that paved the way for construction of a new National Theatre undertaken by the government and the Municipality of Tirana until the court issues a final decision on the issue.

The old National Theatre was demolished in May 2020, after three years of protests by activists.

The head of the Albanian Media Council has criticised the behaviour of the Mayor of Tirana's security detail after a video published by Ora News media outlet showed a journalist being physically stopped from putting questions to Mayor Erion Veliaj.

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America called for "racial justice, equality and peace" in a message to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States on Monday.

Critics say the demolition of the National Theatre is an old project of Prime Minister Edi Rama, since the time when he was Culture Minister in 1998 and proposed to build a tower in its place and incorporate the theatre inside.

The renewed bid to demolish the theatre divided artists and activists, and raised concerns among anti-corruption and heritage watchdogs.

The ruins of the National Theatre of Albania on May 18 2020. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

An excavator removed rubble from the site on Monday morning, forming a contrasting image to billboards still inviting theatre-goers to come and see stage plays.

"The European narrative has been wounded," Veliaj, 39, told BIRN in an interview in July hours before he was sworn in for a second term as mayor of the Albanian capital.

"Telling Albania and other countries in the Western Balkans 'we'll consider next year, you still have some work to do' and once you fulfil that list, you see you are not being rewarded, is disappointing," he said.