Balla after the desecration of the January 21 martyrs' plaques: Albanians do not desecrate graves

Taulant Balla, chairman of the Socialist Party (PS) parliamentary group, reacted on Sunday after, according to him, the memorial plaques for the January 21 martyrs were desecrated. In Tirana, on Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard, four plaques commemorate the protesters killed on Jan. 21, 2011: Ziver Veizi, Hekuran Deda, Aleks Nika and Faik Myrtaj.

Accusation against Berisha

In a social media post, Balla addressed Democratic Party (PD) leader Sali Berisha directly. “Oh Saaali, did you not have any human code at all?” he wrote, accusing him of paying for and ordering the damage to the memorial plaques. “Albanians do not have the custom of desecrating graves,” Balla added, presenting the desecration as contrary to Albanian traditions and customs.

Balla's accusation that the desecration was ordered remains his claim; he did not present public evidence for it. His reaction did not say how many plaques were damaged or who carried out the desecration, and by the time of publication there had been no announcement of an official investigation or response from the PD.

During the days of protest

The reaction came at the end of a tense political day, with the students' 13th protest ending in clashes in Skanderbeg Square. Earlier, Prime Minister Edi Rama had accused the PD of putting itself at the forefront of urban violence, while Berisha had urged citizens not to recognize the government's new measures against violence at protests.

The events of Jan. 21, 2011, when four protesters were killed during a protest by the then opposition outside the Prime Minister's Office, at a time when Berisha was prime minister, remain one of the most sensitive wounds in Albanian politics and a case under investigation by SPAK, the Special Anti-Corruption Structure.