Ocasio-Cortez and Ritchie Torres condemn violence against protesters in Albania: De-escalate

The protests in Albania have drawn the attention of the U.S. Congress. Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ritchie Torres, both from New York, publicly responded to the use of force by police during the student protests in Tirana.

Ocasio-Cortez: Messages from the Albanian community

Ocasio-Cortez called on the Albanian government to de-escalate and respect freedom of expression, urging it to stop the violent repression of protesters. According to the statement relayed by Albanian media, she said that over the past week she had received messages from members of the Albanian community in the U.S. worried about the safety of their relatives in Albania.

Torres: Police actions alarming

Ritchie Torres, also a Democrat, said he was “deeply concerned” by the outbreak of violence against protesters. He called the actions of the Albanian police unacceptable and demanded that they end. Torres stressed that Albanians have the right to protest peacefully and that police must respect that right while enforcing the law, and he called for calm.

The reactions come after a statement Wednesday by a U.S. senator who called for protecting citizens from police violence and for fighting corruption, and after the OSCE again condemned violence at the protests and attacks on journalists. Earlier in the week, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk had called for an independent investigation.

Prime Minister Rama has defended the police interventions, pointing to the high number of injured officers and accusing some of the protesters of organized violence.